UC-NRLF 


$B   in?   ^qu 


LIBRARY 

OF  THK 

University  of  California. 

Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH. 

Received  October,  i8g4. 
Accessions  No.Syg{)'y ,     Class  No. 


THE 


ECLIPSE   OF   FAITH 


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THE 


ECLIPSE    OF   FAITH; 


OR, 


A    VISIT 


TO 


A    RELIGIOUS    SCEPTIC. 


FIFTH   EDITION. 


B 


UNI7BRSIT 


7 


CROSBY,  NICHOLS     AND    COMPANY, 

111  Washington  Street. 

1854. 


[6TIZ10 


^730 


7 


C^?'"   G?  TIB?     '^^ 

'UFI7EnsiT7] 
AMERICAN    PREFACE 


The  effect  of  the  perusal  of  this  book,  and  the 
estimate  put  upon  it  by  a  reader,  will  depend  up- 
on his  taking  with  him  a  right  view  of  its  design. 
That  design  seems  in  the  mind  of  the  writer  to 
have  been  very  definite  and  very  restiicted.  If 
he  should  be  thought  to  have  intended  an  answer 
to  all  the  elaborate  objections  from  criticism  and 
philosophy  recently  or  renewedly  urged  against 
faith  in  the  Christian  revelation,  and,  still  more, 
if  the  reader  should  suppose  that  the  author  had 
aimed  to  remove  all  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
such  a  faith,  he  would  equally  insure  his  own 
disappointment,  and  wrong  the  writer.  The  book 
comes  forth  anonymously,  but  it  is  ascribed  to 
Mr.  Henry  Kogers,  some  of  whose  very  able  pa- 
pers in  the  Edinburgh  Review  have  been  repub- 
lished in  two  octavo  volumes  in  England,  and  one 
of  whose  articles,  that  on  "  Reason  and  Faith," 
dealt  with  some  of  the  topics  which  form  the 
subject-matter  of  this  volume. 


iri  AMERICAN    PREFACE. 

The  author  seems  to  have  viewed  with  a  keen- 
ly attentive  and  anxious  mind  the  generally  un- 
settled state  of  opinion,  equally  among  the  liter- 
ary and  some  of  the  humbler  classes  in  England, 
concerning  the  terms  and  the  sanction  of  a  re- 
ligious faith,  especially  as  the  issue  bears  upon 
the  contents  and  the  authority  of  the  Bible. 
That  he  understands  the  state  of  things  in  which 
he  proposes  himself  as  one  who  has  a  word  to 
utter,  will  be  allowed  by  all  candid  judges,  what- 
ever criticism  they  may  pass  upon  the  effective- 
ness of  his  own  argument.  There  is  abundant 
evidence  in  this  book  of  his  large  intimacy  with 
the  freshest  forms  of  speculation,  as  developed  by 
the  free  thought  of  our  age.  "While  he  identifies 
these  speculations  with  the  recent  writers  who 
have  adopted  them,  he  is  not  to  be  understood 
as  allowing  that  these  writers  have  originated 
any  novel  speculations,  or  excelled  the  sceptics 
of  former  times  in  acuteness,  or  plausibility,  or 
success  in  urging  their  cause.  He  adopts  the 
method  of  the  Platonic  dialogue,  and  exhibits  a 
dialectic  skill  in  confounding  by  objections  when 
objections  can  be  made  to  do  service  as  argu- 
ments. His  frank  admission  that  he  leaves  in- 
surmountable objections  and  unfathomable  mys- 
teries still  involved  in  the  theme,  a  portion  of 
whose  range  alone  he  traverses,  should  secure 
him  from  the  imputation  of  having  attempted  too 
much,  or  of  boastfulness  for  what  he  considers 
that  he  has  accomplished. 


AMERICAN    PREFACE.  Vll 

The  truculent  notice  of  this  book  in  the  "West- 
minster Review  for  July  is  wholly  unworthy  of 
the  reputation  and  the  claims  of  that  journal. 
Probably  a  careful  perusal  of  the  book  is  an  es- 
sential condition  for  enlightening  the  mind  of 
the  writer,  and  for  rectifying  his  judgment,  so  far 
as  information  has  power  to  promote  candor. 

The  Prospective  Review  for  August,  in  an  arti- 
cle on  the  work,  for  the  most  part  commendatory j 
though  certainly  without  any  warmth  of  praise, 
makes  the  prominent  stricture  upon  it  to  be,  a 
charge  against  the  author  of  having  evaded  "  the 
gravest,  and  in  one  sense  the  only  serious  diffi- 
culty, with  which  the  evidences  he  supports  have 
to  contend."  This  difficulty  is  defined  to  lie  in 
the  question  as  to  whether  our  four  Gospels  are 
essentially  and  substantially  documents  from  the 
pens  of  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John,  actual 
companions  and  contemporaries  of  Him  whose 
life  and  lessons  are  therein  recorded.  The  Re- 
viewer professes  to  have  satisfied  his  own  mind 
by  an  affirmative  conclusion  on  this  point.  But 
regarding  the  question  as  the  very  turning-point, 
the  paramount  and  vital  element  of  the  existing 
issue  between  faith  and  unbelief,  and  not  finding 
it  to  be  dealt  with  in  this  volume,  the  Reviewer 
considers  that  it  is  evaded.  It  might  be  urged 
in  reply,  that  this  question  is  not  to  other  minds 
of  such  paramount  importance,  and  that  its  af- 
firmative answer  would  not  be  conclusive,  as  it 
would  still  leave  open  other  questions ;  such,  for 


YUl  AMERICAN    PREFACE. 

instance,  as  those  which  enter  into  the  theories  of 
Paulus  and  other  Rationalists,  and  such  as  are 
not  even  excluded  from  the  incidental  adjuncts 
of  Strauss's  mythical  theory.  It  might  also  be 
urged,  that,  allowing  the  question  to  be  paramount 
in  its  relation  to  the  whole  issue,  it  is  one  which 
is  not  so  judiciously  dealt  with  in  the  discursive- 
ness of  dialogues  after  dinner,  as  in  the  solitary 
study,  with  piles  of  huge  tomes,  lexicons,  and 
manuscripts  that  require  a  most  deliberate  exam- 
ination. But  to  leave  the  merits  and  the  relative 
importance  of  this  question  undebated,  it  might 
have  been  more  generous  in  the  Reviewer  to  have 
confined  his  criticisms  to  a  decision  upon  what 
the  author  has  endeavored  to  accomplish,  instead 
of  impugning  his  judgment  in  the  selection  of 
the  points  on  which  to  employ  his  pen.  How 
ever  desirable  it  may  be  that  we  should  have  in 
another  form  what  Mr.  Norton  has  presented 
so  thoroughly  in  his  work  on  the  Genuineness 
of  the  Gospels,  it  is  enough  to  answer  to  the 
Reviewer  in  the  Prospective,  that  the  writer  of 
this  volume  addressed  himself  to  a  diiFerent  course 
of  argument,  starting  from  other  divergences  of 
opinion,  philosophical  rather  than  critical  in  their 
relations.  He  certainly  was  free  to  select  the 
method  and  the  direction  of  his  argument,  if  he 
candidly  represented  the  answering  point  of  view 
of  those  to  whom  he  opposed  himself. 

Amid  many  episodes  and  interludes  of  fancy 
and  narrative,  it  will  be  found  that  the  volume 


AMERICAN    PREFACE.  IX 

arrays  its  force  of  argument  against  two  of  the 
assumptions  alike  of  modern  and  of  ancient  scep- 
ticism ;  namely,  that  a  revelation  from  God  to  men 
through  the  agency  of  a  5(?pA\is  an  unreasonable 
tenet  of  belief;  and  that  it  is  impossible  that  a 
miracle  should  occur,  and  impossible  that  its  occur- 
rence should  be  authenticated.  There  is  a  vigor- 
ous and  logical  power  displayed  in  the  discussion 
of  these  two  points.  The  discomfiture  of  those 
who  urge  these  assumptions  does  not  of  course 
convince  all  scepticism,  or  substitute  faith  for  it, 
but  it  is  something  to  discomfit  such  pleas,  and 
to  expose  the  fallacies  which  confuse  the  minds 
of  their  advocates.  The  matters  of  debate  are 
lofty,  and  there  is  no  levity  in  their  treatment. 


ADVEETISEMENT. 


He  who  reads  this  book  only  superficially  will 
at  once  see  that  it  is  not  all  fiction  ;  and  he  who 
reads  it  more  than  superficially  will  as  easily  see 
that  it  is  not  all  fact.  In  what  proportions  it  is 
composed  of  either  would  probably  require  a  very 
acute  critic  accurately  to  determine.  As  the  Edi- 
tor makes  no  pretensions  to  such  acumen,  —  as 
he  can  lay  claim  to  only  an  imperfect  knowledge 
of  the  principal  personage  in  the  volume,  and 
never  had  any  personal  acquaintance  with  the  sin- 
gular youth,  some  traits  of  whose  character  and 
some  glimpses  of  whose  history  are  here  given,  — 
he  leaves  the  above  question  to  the  decision  of 
the  reader.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  of  no  conse- 
quence in  the  world.  The  character  and  purport 
of  the  volume  are  sufficiently  disclosed  in  the 
parting  words  of  the  Journalist.  "  It  aspires," 
as  is  justly  said,  "  to  none  of  the  appropriate  in- 
terest either  of  a  novel  or  a  biography."'  It  might 
have  been  very  properly  entitled  "  Theological 
Fragments." 

Mabch  31,  1852. 


CONTENTS. 


rAos 

INTRODUCTION 1 

A  GENUINE   SCEPTIC 28 

A  VERSATILE   BELIEVER      .           .           . 32 

PURITAN  INFIDELITY .  37 

LORD   HERBERT  AND   MODERN  DEISM 48 

SOME   CURIOUS   PARADOXES 57 

PROBLEMS 67 

A    DIALOGUE    SHOWING    THAT    "THAT    MAT    BE    POSSIBLE    WITH 

MAN  WHICH   IS   IMPOSSIBLE   WITH   GOD "             ....  73 

A   sceptic's   FAVORITE   TOPICS 96 

UNSTABLE   EQUILIBRIUM 101 

A   sceptic's  FIRST   CATECHISM 103 

SOME   LIGHT   ON  THE    MYSTERY  .  .  .  .  .  .  .105 

BELIEF  AND  FAITH 106 

THE   "via  media"   OF  DEISM     ...                     ....  118 

A  sceptic's   SELECT   PARTY 167 

HOW    IT    WAS    THAT    INFIDELITY    PREVENTED   MY   BECOMING   AN 

INFIDEL 194 

SKIRMISHES 222 

CHRISTIAN   ETHICS 226 

THE   BLANK   BIBLE 231 

A  DIALOGUE   IN   WHICH  IT   IS  CONTENDED   "  THAT   MIRACLES   ARE 

IMPOSSIBLE,  BUT  THAT  IT  IS  IMPOSSIBLE  TO  PROVE  IT "  246 
THE  ANALOGIES   OF   AN   EXTERNAL  REVELATION  WITH   THE    LAWS 

AND   CONDITIONS   OF   HUMAN   DEVELOPMENT     ....  283 

ON  A  PREVAILING   FALLACY 306 

HISTORIC   CREDIBILITY .311 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

A  KNOTTY  POINT 32J» 

MEDICAL  ANALOGIES  .  .  ....  .  330 

HISTOBIC   CKITICISM        .  .  335 

THE   "papal  aggression"  PROVED   TO  BE  IMPOSSIBLE         .  .  342 

THE   PARADISE   OF  POOLS         ...  ...  360 

A  FUTURE   LIFE 379 

A  VARIABLE   QUANTITY 393 

DISCUSSION  OF  THREE  POINTS 414 

THE   LAST  EVENING 428 


THE 


ECLIPSE   OF   FAITH, 


To  E.  B*****,  Missionary  in ,  South  Pacific. 

"Wednesday,  June  18, 1851. 

My  dear  Edward:  — 

You  have  more  than  once  asked  me  to  send  you,  in 
your  distant  solitude,  my  impressions  respecting  the  re- 
ligious distractions  in  which  your  native  country  has 
been  of  late  years  involved.  I  have  refused,  partly,  be- 
cause it  would  take  a  volume  to  give  you  any  just  no- 
tions on  the  subject ;  and  partly,  because  I  am  not  quite 
sure  that  you  would  not  be  happier  in  ignorance.  Think, 
if  you  can,  of  your  native  land  as  in  this  respect  what 
it  was  when  you  left  it,  on  your  exile  of  Christian  love, 
some  fifteen  years  ago. 

I  little  thought  I  should  ever  have  so  mournful  a 
motive  to  depart  in  some  degree  from  my  resolution. 
I  intended  to  leave  you  to  glean  what  you  could  of  our 
religious  condition  from  such  publications  as  might 
reach  you.  But  I  am  now  constrained  to  write  some- 
thing about  it.  My  dear  brother,  you  will  hear  it  with 
a  sad  heart ;  —  your  nephew  and  mine,  our  only  sister's 


Z  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

only  child,  has,  in  relation  to  religion  at  least,  become 
an  absolute  sceptic! 

I  well  recollect  the  tenderness  you  felt  for  him,  dou 
bly  endeared  by, his  own  amiable  dispositions  and  the 
remembrance  of  her  whom  in  so  many  points  he  re- 
sembled. What  must  be  7nine,  who  so  long  stood  to 
the  orphan  in  the  relations  which  his  mother's  love  and 
my  own  affection  imposed  upon  me !  It  is  hardly  a 
figure  to  say  I  felt  for  him  as  for  a  son.  "  Ah '  "  you 
will  say  as  you  glance  at  your  own  children,  "  my  bach- 
elor brother  cannot  understand  that  even  such  an  affec- 
tion is  still  a  faint  resemblance  of  parental  love." 

It  may  be  so.  I  know  that  that  loYe  is  sui  generis; 
and  as  I  have  often  heard  from  those  who  are  fathers, 
its  depth  and  purity  were  never  realized  till  they  be- 
came such.  But  neither,  perhaps,  can  you  know  how 
nearly  such  a  love  as  I  have  felt  for  Harrington,  com- 
mitted to  me  in  death  by  one  I  loved  so  well,  —  beloved 
alike  for  her  sake  and  for  his  own,  —  the  object  of  so 
much  solicitude  during  his  childhood  and  youth,  —  I 
say  you  can  hardly,  perhaps,  conceive  how  near  such  an 
affection  may  approach  that  of  a  parent ;  how  closely 
such  a  graft  upon  a  childless  stock  may  resemble  the 
incorporate  life  of  father  and  son. 

You  remember  what  hopes  we  both  formed  of  his 
youth,  from  the  promise  alike  of  his  heart  and  of  his 
intellect.  How  fondly  we  predicted  a  career  of  future 
usefulness  to  others,  and  honor  and  happiness  to  him- 
self !  You  know  how  often  I  used  to  compare  him,  for 
the  silent  ease  with  which  he  mastered  difficult  subjects, 
and  the  versatility  with  which  he  turned  his  mind  to 
the  most  opposite  pursuits,  to  the  youthful  Theaetetus, 
as  described  in  Plato's  dialogue*  the  movements  of 
whose  mind  Theodorus  compares  to  the  "  noiseless  flow 
of  oil "  from  the  flask. 


INTRODUCTION.  S 

He  was  just  fourteen  and  a  half  when  you  left  Eng- 
land; he  is  now,  therefore,  nearly  twenty-nine.  He 
left  me  four  years  ago,  when  he  was  just  twenty-five, 
—  about  a  year  after  the  termination  of  his  college 
course,  which  you  know  was  honorable  ^o  him,  and 
gratifying  to  me.  He  then  went  to  spend  a  year,  or  a 
year  and  a  half,  as  he  supposed,  in  Germany.  His  stay 
(he  was  not  all  the  time  in  Germany,  however)  was 
prolonged  for  more  than  three  years.  In  the  letters 
which  I  received  from  him,  and  which  gradually  be- 
came more  rare  and  more  brief,  there  was  (without^ 
one  symptom  of  decay  of  personal  affection)  a  certain 
air  of  gradually  increasing  constraint,  in  relation  to 
the  subject  which  I  knew  and  felt  to  be  all-important. 
Alas  !  my  prophetic  soul  took  it  aright ;  this  constraint 
was  the  faint  penumbra  of  a  disastrous  eclipse  indeed ! 
He  was  not,  as  so  many  profess  to  be,  convinced  by  any 
particular  book  ^as  that  of  Strauss,  for  example)  that 
the  history  of  Christianity  is  false;  nay,  he  declares 
that  he  is  not  convinced  of  that  even  now ;  he  is  a  gen- 
uine sceptic,  and  is  the  subject,  he  says^  of  invincible 
doubts)  Those  doubts  have  extended  at  length  to  the 
whole  field  of  theology,  and  are  due  principally,  as  he 
himself  has  owned,  to  the  spectacle  of  the  interminable 
controversies  which  (turn  where  he  would)  occupied  the 
mind  of  Germany.  Even  when  he  returned  homt, 
he  does  not  appear  to  have  finally  abandoned  the 
notion  of  4he  possibility  of  constructing  some  religious 
system  in  the  place  of  ChristianityS;  —  this,  as  he  af- 
firms, is  a  later  conviction  forced  upon  him  by  examin- 
ing the  systems  of  such  men  as  have  attempted  the 
solution  of  the  problem.  He  declares  the  result  wholly 
unsatisfactory;  that,  sceptical  as  he  was  and  is  with 
regarXto  the  truth  of  Christianity,  he  is  not  even  scep- 
tical with  regard  to   these  theories;  and  he  declares 


THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 


^ 


that  if  the  undoubtedly  powerful  minds  which  have 
framed  them  have  so  signally  failed  in  removing  his 
doubts,  and  affording  him  a  rock  to  stand  upon,  he  can- 
not prevail  upon  himself  to  struggle  further. 

And  so,  instead /6f  stopping  at  any  of  those  misera- 
ble road-side  inns  feetween  Christianity  and  scepticism, 
through  whose  ragged  windows  all  the  winds  of  heaven 
are  blowing,  and  whose  gaudy  "  signs"  assure  us  there 
is  "  good  entertainment  within  for  man  and  beast,"  4- 
whereas  it  is  only  for  the  latter,  —  Harrington  still  trav- 
elled on  in  hopes  of  finding  some  better  shelter,  and 
now,  in  the  dark  night,  and  a  night  of  tempest  too, 
finds  himself  on  the  open  heath.  To  employ  his  own 
words,  "  he  could  not  rest  contented  with  one-sided  the- 
ories or  inconsequential  reasonings,  and  has  pursued 
the  argument  to  its  logical  termination."  He  is  ill  at 
ease  in  mind,  I  hear,  and  not  in  robust  health ;  and  I 
am  just  going  to  visit  him. 

I  shall  have  some  melancholy  scenes  with  him ;  I 
feel  that.  Do  you  remember,  when  we  were  in  Swit- 
zerland together,  how,  as  we  wound  down  the  Susten 
and  the  Grimsel  passes,  with  the  perpendicular  cliffs 
some  thousand  feet  abcve  us,  and  a  torrent  as  many 
feet  below,  we  used  to  shudder  at  the  thought  of  two 
men,  wrestling  upon  that  dizzy  verge,  and  striving  to 
throw  each  other  over !  I  almost  imagine  that  I  am 
about  to  engage  in  such  a  strife  now,  with  the  addi- 
tional horror  that  the  contest  is  (as  one  may  say)  be- 
tween father  and  son.  Nay,  it  is  yet  more  terrible ; 
for  in  such  a  contest  there,  I  almost  feel  as  if  I  could 
be  contented  to  employ  only  a  passive  resistance.  But 
I  must  here  learn  to  school  my  heart  and  mind  to  an 
active  and  desperate  conflict.  I  fear  lest  I  should  do 
more  harm  than  good  ;  and  I  am  sure  I  shall  if  I  suffer 
impatience  and  irascibility  to  prevail.     I  shall,  perhaps, 


INTRODUCTION.  |^ 

also  hear  from  those  lips  which  once  addressed  me 
only  in  the  accents  of  respect  and  kindness,  language 
indicative  of  thati  alienation  which  is  the  inevitable 
result  of  marked  dissimilarity  of  sentiment  and  char- 
acter, and  which,  according  to  Aristotle's  most  just 
description,  will  often  dissolve  the  truest  friendship, 
at  all  events,  extinguish  (just  as  prolonged  absenc^ 
will)  all  its  vividness.  }  So  impossible  is  it  for  the 
full  sympathies  of  the  heart  to  coexist  with  absolute 
antipathy  of  the  intellect !  Nay,  I  shall,  perhaps,  have 
to  listen  to  the  language  which  I  cannot  but  consider 
as  "  impiety  "  and  "  blasphemy,"  and  yet  keep  my  tem- 
per. 

I  half  feel,  however,  that  I  am  doing  him  injustice  in 
much  of  this;  and  I  will  not  "judge  before  the  time." 
It  cannot  be  that  he  will  ever  cease  to  regard  me  with 
affection,  though,  perhaps,  no  longer  with  reverence* 
and  I  am  confident  that  not  even  scepticism  can  chill 
the  natural  kindness  of  his  disposition.  I  am  persuaded 
that,  even  as  a  sceptic,  he  is  very  different  from  most 
sceptics,  f  They  cherish  doubts;  he  will  be  impatient 
of  them.  Scepticism  is,  with  them,  a  welcome  guest, 
and  has  entered  their  hearts  by  an  open  door ;  I  am 
sure  that  it  must  have  stormed  his,  and  entered  it  by  a 
breach.  ? 

"  No,"  my  heart  whispers,  "  I  shall  still  find  you  sin- 
cere, Harrington;  scorning  to  take  any  unfair  advantage 
in  argument,  and  impatient  of  all  sophistry,  as  I  have 
ever  found  you.  You  will  be  fully  aware  of  the  moral 
significance  of  the  conclusion  at  which  you  have  arrived, 
—  even  that  there  is  no  conclusion  to  be  arrived  at ;  and 
you  will  be  miserable,  —  as  all  must  be  who  have  your 
power  to  comprehend  it." 

Accept  this,  my  dear  brother,  as  a  truer  delineation 
of  my  wanderer   than   my   first  thoughts   prompted. 


O  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

But  then  all  this  will  only  make  it  the  more  sad  to  see 
him.     Still  it  is  a  duty,  and  it  must  be  done. 

I  have  not  the  heart  at  present  to  give  more  than  the 
briefest  answers  to  the  queries  which  you  so  earnestly 
put  to  me.  No  doubt  you  were  startled  to  find,  from 
the  French  papers  that  reached  you  from  Tahiti,  and 
on  no  less  authority  than  that  of  the  "  Apostolic  Letter 
of  the  Pope,"  and  Cardinal  Wiseman's  "  Pastoral,"  that 
this  enlightened  country  was  once  more,  or  was  on 
the  eve  of  becoming,  a  "  satellite "  of  Rome.  Subse- 
quent information,  touching  the  course  of  the  almost 
unprecedented  agitation  which  England  has  just  passed 
through,  will  serve  to  convince  you,  either  that  Pio 
Nono's  supplications  to  the  Virgin  and  all  the  English 
saints,  from  St.  Dunstan  downwards,  have  not  been  so 
successful  as  he  flattered  himself  that  they  would  have 
been,  or  that  the  nation,  if  it  he  about  to  embrace 
Romanism,  has  the  oddest  way  of  showing  it.  It  has 
acquired  most  completely  the  Jesuitical  art  of  disguising 
its  real  feelings;  or,  as  the  Anglicans  would  say,  of 
practising  the  doctrine  of  "  reserve."  To  all  appear- 
ance the  country  is  more  indomitably  Protestant  than 
before. 

Nor  need  you  alarm  yourself — as  in  truth  you  seem 
too  much  inclined  to  do — about  the  machinations  and 
triumphs  of  the  Tractarian  party.  Their  insidious  at- 
tempts are  no  doubt  a  graver  evil  than  the  preposter- 
ous pretensions  of  Rome,  to  which  indeed  they  gave 
their  only  chance  of  success.  The  evil  has  been  much 
abated,  howeveij  by  those  very  assumptions;  for  it  is 
no  longer  disguised.  Tractarianism  is  seen  to  be  what 
many  had  proclaimed  it, —  the  strict  ally  of  Rome.  The 
hopes  it  inspired  were  the  causes  of  the  Pope's  presump- 
tion and  of  Wiseman's  folly ;  and,  by  misleading  them, 
It  has,  to  a  large  extent,  undone  the  projects  both  of 


INTRODUCTION. 


Rome  and  itself.     But  even  before  the  recent  attempts, 
its  successes  were  very  partial. 

The  degree  to  which  the  infection  tainted  the  clergy- 
was  no  criterion  at  all  of  the  sympathy  of  the  people. 
Too  many  of  the  former  were  easily  converted  to  a  j 
system  which  confirmed  all  their  ecclesiastical  preju- 
dices, and  favored  their  sacerdotal  pretensions ;  which 
endowed  every  youngster  upon  whom  the  bishop  laid 
hands  with  "  preternatural  graces,"  and  with  the  power 
of  working  "  spiritual  miracles."  But  the  people  gen- 
erally were  in  little  danger  of  being  misled  by  these 
absurdities  ;  and  facts ^  even  before  the  recent  outbreak, 
ought  to  have  convinced  the  clergy,  that,  if  ^/ie?/ thought 
proper  to  go  to  Rome,  their  flocks  were  by  no  means 
prepared  to  follow  them.  Except  among  some  fash- 
ionable folks  here  and  there,  —  young  ladies  to  whom 
ennui,  susceptible  nerves,  and  a  sentimental  imagination 
made  any  sort  of  excitement  acceptable  ;  who  turned 
their  arts  of  embroidery  and  painting,  and  their  love  of 
music,  to  "  spiritual "  uses,  and  displayed  their  piety 
and  their  accomplishments  at  the  same  time,  —  except 
among  these,  I  say,  and  those  amongst  the  more  igno- 
rant of  our  rural  population  whom  such  people  influ- 
enced, the  Anglican  movement  could  not  boast  of  any 
signal  success.  In  the  more  densely  peopled  districts, 
and  amongst  the  middle  classes  especially,  the  failure 
of  the  thing  was  often  most  ignominious.  No  sooner 
were  the  candles  placed  upon  the  "  altar  "  than  the  con- 
gregation began  to  thin  ;  and  by  the  time  the  "  obsolete  " 
rubrics  were  all  admirably  observed,  the  priest  faultlessly 
arrayed,  the  service  properly  intoned,  and  the  entire 
"  spiritual "  machine  set  in  motion,  the  people  were  apt 
to  desert  the  sacred  edifice  altogether.  It  was  a  pity, 
doubtless,  that,  when  such  admirable  completeness  in 
the  ecclesiastical  equipments  had  been  attained,  it  should 


.)• 


i 


8  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

be  found  that  the  machine  wo  aid  not  work  ;  that  just 
when  the  Church  became  perfect^  it  should  fail  for  so 
insignificant  an  accident  as  the  want  of  a  congregation. 
Yet  so  it  often  was.  The  ecclesiastical  play  was  an 
admirable  rehearsal,  and  nothing  more.  Not  but  what 
there  are  many  priests  who  would  prefer  a  "  full  service," 
and  an  ample  ceremonial  in  an  empty  church,  to  the 
simple  Gospel  in  a  crowded  one  ;  like  Handel,  who  con- 
soled himself  with  the  vacant  benches  at  one  of  his  ora- 
torios by  saying  that  "  dey  made  de  music  sound  de 
finer."  And,  in  truth,  if  we  adopt  to  the  full  the  "  High 
Church  "  theory,  perhaps  it  cannot  much  matter  wheth- 
er the  people  be  present  or  not ;  the  opus  operatum  of 
magic  rites  and  spiritual  conjuration  may  be  equally 
effectual.  The  Oxford  tracts  said  ten  years  ago,  "  Be- 
fore the  Reformation,  the  Church  recognized  the  seven 
hours  of  prayer ;  however  these  may  have  been  practi- 
cally neglected,  or  hidden  in  an  unknown  tongue,  there  is 
no  estimating  what  influence  this  may  have  had  on 
common  people's  minds  secretlyP  Surely  you  must 
agree  that  there  is  no  estimating  the  efficacy  of  nobody's 
hearing  services  which,  if  heard  by  any  body,  would 
have  been  in  an  unknown  tongue. 

I  repeat,  that  the  people  of  England  will  never  yield 
to  Romanism,  —  unless,  indeed,  it  shall  hereafter  be  as 
a  reaction  from  infidelity;  just  as  infidelity  is  now 
spreading  as  a  reaction  from  the  attempted  restoration 
of  Romanism.  That  England  is  not  "prepared  at  pres- 
ent is  sufficiently  shown  by  the  result  of  the  recent  agi- 
tation. Could  it  terminate  otherwise  ?  Was  it  possi- 
ble that  England,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  could  be 
brought  to  adopt  the  superstitions  of  the  Middle  Age  ? 
If  she  could,  she  would  have  deserved  to  be  left  to  the 
consequences  of  her  besotted  folly.  We  may  say,  as 
Milton  said,  in  his  day,  to  the  attempted  restoration  of 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

superstitions  which  the  Reformers  had  already  cast  off, 
"  O,  if  we  freeze  at  noon,  after  their  early  thaw,  let  us 
fear  lest  the  sun  for  ever  hide  himself,  and  turn  his 
orient  steps  from  our  ungrateful  horizon  justly  con- 
demned to  be  eternally  benighted." 

No,  it  is  not  from  this  quarter  that  England  must 
look  for  the  chief  dangers  which  menace  religion,  except, 
indeed,  as  these  dangers  are  the  inevitable,  the  uniform 
result  of  every  attempt  to  revive  the  obsolete  past. 
The  principal  peril  is  from  a  subtle  unbelief,  which,  in 
various  forms,  is  sapping  the  religion  of  our  people,  and 
which,  if  not  checked,  Will  by  and  by  give  the  Romish 
bishops  a  better  title  to  be  called  bishops  in  partibus 
infidelium  than  has  always  been  the  case.  The  attempt 
to  make  men  belieye  too  much  naturally  provokes  them 
to  believe  too  little  i;  and  such  has  been  and  will  be  the 
recoil  from  the  movement  towards  Rome.  It  is  only 
one,  however,  of  the  causes  of  that  widely  diffused  in- 
fidelity which  is  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  phenome- 
non of  our  day.  Other  and  more  potent  causes  are  to 
be  sought  in  the  philosophic  tendencies  of  the  age,  and 
especially  a  sympathy,  in  very  many  minds,  with  the 
worst  features  of  Continental  speculation.  "  Infideli- 
ty ! "  you  will  say.  "  Do  you  mean  such  infidelity  as 
that  of  Collins  and  Bolingbroke,  Chubb  and  Tindal?" 
Why,  we  have  plenty  of  those  sorts  too,  and  —  woise  ; 
but  the  most  charming  infidelity  of  the  day,  a  bastard 
deism  infact^  often  assumes  a  different  form,  —  a  form, 
you  will  be  surprised  to  hear  it,  which  embodies  (as 
many  say)  the  essence  of  genuine  Christianity !  Yes  ; 
be  it  known  to  you,  that  when  you  have  ceased  to 
believe  all  that  is  specially  characteristic  of  the  New 
Testament,  —  its  history,  its  miracles,  its  peculiar  doc- 
trines,—  you  may  still  be  a  genuine  Christian.  Chris- 
tianity is  giublimed  into  an  exquisite  thing  called  modern 


10  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  spiritualism."  The  amount  and  quality  of  the  infidel 
"faith"  are,  indeed,  pleasingly  diversified  when  you 
come  to  examine  individual  professors  thereof;  but  it  is 
(always  based  upon  the  principle  that  man  is  a  sufficient 
light  to  himself ;  that  his  oracle  is  within ;  so  clear  as 
either  to  supersede  the  necessity  —  some  say  even  the 
possibility  —  of  all  external  revelation  in  any  ordinary 
sense  of  that  term  A  or,  when  such  revelation  is  in  some 
sense  allowed,  to  constitute  man  the  absolute  arbiter  of 
how  much  or  how  little  of  it  is  worthy  to  be  received. 

This  theory  we  all  perceive,  of  course,  cannot  fail  to 
recommend  itself  by  the  well-knOwn  uniformity  and  dis- 
tinctness of  man's  religious  notions  and  the  reasonable- 
ness of  his  religious  practices  !  We  all  know  there  has 
never  been  any  want  of  a  revelation ;  —  of  which  you 
have  doubtless  had  full  proof  among  the  idolatrous  bar- 
barians you  foolishly  went  to  enlighten  and  reclaim.  I 
wish,  however,  you  had  known  it  fifteen  years  ago ;  I 
might  have  had  my  brother  with  me  still.  It  is  certainly 
a  pity  that  this  internal  revelation  —  the  "  absolute  re- 
ligion," hidden^  as  Mr.  Theodore  Parker  felicitously 
phrases  it,  in  all  religions  of  all  ages  and  nations,  and 
so  strikingly  avouched  by  the  entire  history  of  the 
world  —  should  render  itself  suspicious  by  little  dis- 
crepancies in  its  own  utterances  among  those  who  be- 
lieve in  it.  Yet  so  it  is.  Compared  with  the  rest  of 
the  worldj  few  at  the  best  can  be  got  to  believe  in  the 
sufficiency  of  the  internal  light  and  the  superfluity  of 
all  external  revelation  j  and  yet  hardly  two  of  the  "  little 
flock "  agree.  It  is  the  rarest  little  oracle !  Apollo 
himself  might  envy  its  adroitness  in  the  utterance  of 
ambiguities.  One  man  says  that  the  doctrine  of  a 
"  future  life  "  is  undoubtedly  a  dictate  of  the  "  religious 
sentiment,"  —  one  of  the  few  universal  characteristics 
of  all  religion  ;  another  declares  his  "  insight "  tells  him 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

nothing  of  the  matter ;  one  affirms  that  the  supposed 
chief  "  intuitions  "  of  the  "  religious  faculty  "  —  belief 
in  the  efficacy  of  prayer,  the  free  will  of  man,  and  the 
immortality  of  the  soul  —  are  at  hopeless  variance  with 
intellect  and  logic  ;  others  exclaim,  and  surely  not  with- 
out reason,  that  this  casts  upon  our  faculties  the  oppro- 
brium of  irretrievable  contradictions !  As  for  those 
"  spiritualists  "  —  and  they  are,  perhaps,  at  present  the 
greater  part  —  who  profess,  in  some  sense,  to  pay  hom- 
age to  the  New  Testament,  they  are  at  infinite  variance 
as  to  how  much  —  whether  7 J,  30,  or  50  per  cent  of  its 
records  —  is  to  be  received.  Very  few  get  so  far  as 
the  last.  One  man  is  resolved  to  be  a  Christian,  — 
none  more  so,  —  only  he  will  reject  all  the  peculiar  doc- 
trines and  all  the  supernatural  narratives  of  the  New 
Testament ;  another  declares  that  miracles  are  impossi- 
ble and  "  incredible,  per  se " ;  a  third  thinks  they  are 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other,  though  it  is  true  that 
probably  a  comparatively  small  portion  of  those  nar- 
nated  in  the  "  book "  are  established  by  such  evidence 
as  to  be  worthy  of  credit.  Pray  use  your  pleasure  in 
the  selection ;  and  the  more  freely,  as  a  fourth  is  of 
opinion  that,  however  true,  they  are  really  of  little  con- 
sequence. While  many  extol  in  vague  terms  of  admi- 
ration the  deep  "  spiritual  insight  "  of  the  founders  of 
Christianity,  they  do  not  trouble  themselves  to  explain 
how  it  is  that  this  exquisite  illumination  left  them  to 
concoct  that  huge  mass  of  legendary  follies  and  mysti- 
cal doctrines  which  constitute,  according  to  the  modern 
"  spiritualism,"  the  bulk  of  the  records  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  by  which  its  authors  have  managed  to 
mislead  the  world ;  nor  how  we  are  to  avoid  regarding 
them  either  as  superstitious  and  fanatical  fools  or  artful 
and  designing  knaves,  if  nine  tenths,  or  seven  tenths,  of 
what  they  record  is  all  to  be  rejected ;  nor,  if  it  be  af- 


12  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

firmed  that  they  never  did  record  it,  but  that  somebody- 
else  has  put  these  matters  into  their  mouths,  how  we 
can  be  sure  that  any  thing  whatever  of  the  small  re- 
[  mainder  ever  came  out  of  their  mouths.  All  this,  how- 
ever, is  of  the  less  consequence,  as  these  gentlemen  con- 
(descend  to  tell  us  how  we  are  to  separate  the  "  spiritual" 
gold  which  faintly  streaks  the  huge  mass  of  impure  ore 
of  fable,  legend,  and  mysticism.  Each  man,  it  seems? 
has  his  own  particular  spade  and  mattock  in  his  "  spir- 
itual faculty  " ;  so  off  with  you  to  the  diggings  in  these 
spiritual  mines  of  Ophlr.  You  will  say,  Why  iiot  stay 
at  home,  and  be  content  at  once,  with  the  advocates 
of  the  absolute  sufficiency  of  the  internal  oracle,  to 
listen  to  its  responses  exclusively  ?  Ask  these  men  — 
for  I  am  sure  I  do  not  know ;  I  only  know  that  the 
results  are  very  different  —  whether  the  possessor  of 
"  insight "  listens  to  its  own  rare  voice,  or  puts  on  its 
spectacles  and  reads  aloud  from  the  New  Testament. 
Generally,  as  I  say,  these  good  folks  are  resolved  that 
all  that  is  supernatural  and  specially  inspired  in  the 
I  sacred  volume  is  to  be  rejected;  and  as  to  the  rest, 
I  which  by  the  way  might  be  conveniently  published  as 
the  "  Spiritualists'  Bible  "  (in  two  or  three  sheets,  48mo, 
say),  that  would  still  require  a  careful  winnowing  ;  for, 
while  one  man  tells  us  that  the  Apostle  Paul,  in  his 
intense  appreciation  of  the  "  spiritual  element,"  made 
light  even  of  the  "  resurrection  of  Christ,"  and  every- 
where shows  his  superiority  to  the  beggarly  elements  of 
history,  dogma,  and  ritual,  another  declares  that  he  was 
so  enslaved  by  his  Jewish  prejudices  and  the  trumpery 
he  had  picked  up  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel,  that  he  knew 
but  little  or  next  to  nothing  of  the  real  mystery  of  the 
very  Gospel  he  preached  ;  that  while  he  proclaims  that 
it  is  "  revealed,  after  having  been  hidden  from  ages  and 
generations,"  he  himself  manages  to  hide  it  afresh. 


INTRODUCTION.         *'  18 

This  you  will  be  told  is  a  perpetual  process,  going 
on  even  now;  that  as  all  the  "earlier  prophets"  were 
unconscious  instruments  of  a  purpose  beyond  their  im- 
mediate range  of  thought,  so  the  Apostles  themselves 
similarly  illustrated  the  shallowness  of  their  range  of 
thought ;  that,  in  fact,  the  true  significance  of  the  Gos- 
pel lay  beyond  them,  and  doubtless  also,  for  the  very 
same  reasons,  lies  beyond  us.  In  other  words,  this  1 
class  of  spiritualists  tell  us  that  Christianity  is  a  "  de-  ) 
velopment,"  as  the  Papists  also  assert,  and  the  New 
Testannent  its  first  imperfect  and  rudimentary  product ; 
only,  unhappily,  as  the  development,  it  seems,  may  be 
things  so  very  different  as  Popery  and  Infidelity,  we 
are  as  far  as  ever  from  any  criterium  as  to  which,  out 
of  the  ten  thousand  possible  developments,  is  the  true ; 
but  it  is  a«matter  of  the  less  consequence,  since  it  will, 
on  such  reasoning,  be  always  something  future. 

"Unhappy  Paul!"  you  will  say.  Yes,  it  is  no  bet 
tcr  with  him  than  it  was  in  our  youth  some  five-and- 
twenty  yeaRS  ago.  Do  you  not  remember  the  astute 
old  German  Professor  in  his  lecture-room  introducing 
the  Apostle  as  examining  with  ever-increasing  wonder 
the  various  contradictory  systems  which  the  perverse- 
ness  of  exegesis  had  extracted  from  his  Epistles,  and  at 
length,  as  he  saw  one  from  which  every  feature  of 
Christianity  had  been  erased,  exclaiming  in  a  fright, 
"  Was  ist  das  ?  "  But  I  will  not  detain  you  on  the 
vagaries  of  the  new  school  of  spiritualists.  I  shall  hear 
enough  of  them,  I  have  no  doubt,  from  Harrington ;  he 
wdll  riot  in  their  extravagances  and  contradictions  as  a 
justification  of  his  own  scepticism.  In  very  truth  their 
authors  are  fit  for  nothing  else  than  to  be  recruiting 
oflScers  for  undisguised  infidelity  ;j  and  this  has  been  the 
consistent  termination  with  very  many  of  their  converts. 
Yet  many  of  them  tell  us,  after  putting  men  on  this 

2 


14  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

inclined  plane  of  smooth  ice,  that  it  is  the  only  place 
where  they  can  be  secure  against  tumbling  into  Infi- 
delity, Atheism,  Pantheism,  Scepticism.  Some  of  the 
Oxford  Tractarians  informed  us,  a  little  before  crossing 
the  border,  that  their  system  was  the  surest  bulwark 
against  Romanism ;  and  in  the  same  way  is  this  exqui- 
site "  spiritualism  "  a  safeguard  against  infidelity. 

Between  many  of  our  modern  "  spiritualists  "  and  the 
Romanists  there  is  a  parallelism  of  movement  abso- 
lutely ludicrous.  You  may  chance  to  hear  both  de- 
claiming, with  equal  fervor,  against  "intellect^'  and 
"  logic"  as  totally  incompetent  to  decide  on  "  religious  " 
or  "  spiritual "  truth,  and  in  favor  of  a  "  faith "  which 
disclaims  all  alliance  with  them.  You  may  chance  to 
hear  them  both  insisting  on  an  absolute  submission  to 
an  "infallible  authority"  other  than  the  Bible;  the  one 
external,  —  that  is,  the  Pope;  the  other  internal,  —  that 
is,  "  Spiritual  Insight " ;  both  exacting  absolute  sub- 
mission, the  one  to  the  outward  oracle,  the  Church, 
the  other  to  the  inward  oracle,  himself;  both  insisting 
that  the  Bible  is  but  the  first  imperfect  product  of  gen- 
uine Christianity,  which  is  perfected  by  a  "develop- 
ment," L>ough  as  to  the  direction  of  that  development 
they  certainly  do  not  agree.  Both,  if  I  may  judge  by 
some  recent  speculations,  recoil  from  the  Bible  even 
more  than  they  do  from  one  another;  and/ Doth  would 
get  rid  of  it,  —  one  by  locking  it  up,  and  the  other  by 
tearing  it  to  tattersi ;  Thus  receding  in  opposite  direc- 
tions round  the  circie,  they  are  found  placed  side  by 
side  at  the  same  extremity  of  a  diameter,  at  the  other 
extremity  of  which  is  the  —  Bible.  The  resemblances, 
in  some  instances,  are  so  striking,  that  one  is  reminded 
of(that  little  animal,  the  fresh-water  polype^  whose  ex- 
ternal structure  is  so  absolutely  a  mere  prolongation 
of  the  internal,  that  you  may  turn  him  inside  out,  and 
all  the  functions  of  life  go  on  just  as  well  as  beforcj^ 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

It  is  impossible  to  convey  to  you  an  adequate  idea  of 
the  bouleversement  which  has  taken  place  in  our  religious 
relations,  —  even  in  each  man's  little  sphere.  It  is  as  if 
vthe  religious  world  were  a  masquerade/ where  you  cease 
to  feel  surprise  at  finding  some  familiar  acquaintance 
disguised  in  the  most  fantastical  costume.     There  is  our 

old  friend  W ,  rigorously,  as  you  know,  educated  in 

his  old  father's  Evangelical  notions,  ready  to  be  a  con- 
fessor for  the  two  wax  candles,  even  though  unlighted, 
and  to  be  a  martyr  for  them  if  but  lighted.  His  cousin 
in  the  opposite  direction  has  found  even  the  most  meagre 
naturalism  too  much  for  him,  and  avows  himself  a  Pan- 
theist. L ,  the  son,  you  remember,  of  an  independ- 
ent minister,  is  ready  to  go  nobly  to  death  in  defence  of 
the  prerogatives  of  his  "  apostolic  succession  "  ;(  and  has 
not  the  slightest  doubts  that  he  can  make  out  his  spir- 
itual genealogy,  without  a  broken  link,  from  the  first 
Bishop  of  Rome,  downwards! — though,  poor  fellow,  it 
would  puzzle  him  to  say  who  was  his  great-grandfathery 

E ,  you  are  aware,  has  long  since  joined  the  Church 

of  Rome,  and  has  disclosed  such  a  bottomless  abyss 
of  "faith,"  that  whole  cart-loads  of  medigeval  fables, 
abandoned  even  by  Romanists  (who,  by  the  wa}^,  stand 
fairly  aghast  at  his  insatiable  appetite),  have  not  been 
able  to  fill  it.  All  the  saints  in  the  Roman  Hagiography 
cannot  work  miracles  as  fast  as  he  can  credit  them.  On 
the  other  hand,  his  brother  has  signalized  himself  by  an 
equal  facility  of  stripping  himself,  fragment  by  frag- 
ment, of  his  early  creed,  till  at  last  he  walks  through 
this  bleak  world  in  such  a  gossamer  gauze  of  transpar- 
ent "spiritualism,"  that  it  makes  you  both  shiver  and 

blush  to  look  at  him.     Your  old  acquaintance  P , 

true  to  his  youthful  qualities  (which  now  have  most 
abundant  exercise),  who  has  the  "  charity  which  be- 
lieveth   all  things,"  though   certainly  not  that  which 


16  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"beareth  all  things,"  goes  about  apologizing  for  all 
religious  systems,  and  finding  truth  in  every  thing;  — 
our  beloved  Harrington,  on  the  other  hand,  bewildered 
by  all  this  confusion,  finds  truth — in  nothing. 

Yet  you  must  not  imagine  that  our  religious  maladies 
are  at  present  more  than  sporadic;  or  that  the  great 
bulk  of  our  population  are  at  present  affected  by  them : 
they  still  believe  the  Bible  to  be  the  revealed  Word  of 
God.  Should  these  diseases  ever  become  epidemic^  they 
will  soon  degenerate  into  a  still  worse  type.  Many 
apostles  of  Atheism  and  Pantheism  amongst  our  lower 
classes  say  (and  perhaps  truly),  that  this  modern  "  spirit- 
ualism "  is  but  a  transition  state.  In  that  case,  you 
will  have  to  recall,  with  a  deeper  meaning,  the  song  of 
Byron,  which  you  told  me  gave  you  such  anguish, 
as  you  paced  the  deck  on  the  evening  in  which  you 
lost  sight  of  Old  England,  —  "My  native  land,  good 
night!" 

I  have  sometime;?  mournfully  asked  myself,  whether 
the  world  may  not  yet  want  a  few  experiments  as  to 
whether  it  cannot  get  on  better  without  Christianity 
and  the  Bible ;  but  I  hope  England  is  not  destined  to 
be  the  laboratory. 

I  almost  envy  your  happier  lot.  I  picture  to  myself 
your  unsophisticated  folks,  just  reclaimed  from  the 
grossest  barbarism  and  idolatry,  receiving  the  simple 
Gospel  (as  it  ought  to  be  received)  with  grateful  won 
der,  as  Heaven's  own  method  of  making  man  wise  and 
happy  ;  reverencing  the  Bible  as  what  it  is,  —  an  infal- 
lible guide  through  this  world  to  a  better;  "  a  light  shin- 
ing in  a  dark  place."  They  listen  with  unquestioning 
simplicity  to  its  disclosures,  which  find  an  echo  in  their 
own  hearts,  and  with  a  reverence  which  is  due  to  a 
volume  which  has  transformed  them  from  savages  into 
men,  and  from  idolaters  into  Christians.     They  are  not 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

troubled  with  doubts  of  its  authenticity  or  its  divinity; 
with  talk  of  various  readings  and  discordant  manu- 
scripts ;  with  subtle  theories  for  proving  that  its  miracles 
are  legends,  or  its  history  myths,  or  with  any  other  of 
the  infinite  vagaries  of  perverted  learning.  Neither 
are  they  perplexed  with  the  assurances  of  those  who  tell 
them  that,  though  divine,  the  Bible  is,  in  fact,  a  most 
dangerous  book,  and  who  would  request  them,  in  their 
new-born  enlightenment,  to  be  pleased  to  shut  their 
eyes,  and  to  return  to  a  religion  of  ceremony  quite  as 
absurd  and  almost  as  cruel  as  the  polytheism  they  have 
renounced.  I  imagine  you  and  your  little  flock  in  the 
Sabbath  stillness  of  those  mountains  and  green  valleys, 
of  which  you  give  me  such  pleasant  descriptions,  ex- 
hibiting a  specimen  of  a  truly  primitive  Christianity; 
I  imagine  that  the  peace  within  is  as  deep  as  the  tran- 
quillity without. 

Yet  I  know  it  cannot  be;  for  you  and  your  flock  are 
merij  —  and  that  one  word  alone  suffices  to  dissolve  the 
charm.  You  and  they  have  cares,  and  worse  than 
cares,  which  make  you  like  all  the  rest  of  the  world; 
for  guilt  and  sorrow  are  of  no  clime,  and  the  "  happy 
valley "  never  existed  except  in  the  pages  of  Rasselas. 
You  are,  doubtless,  plagued  by  every  now  and  then 
finding  that  some  half-reclaimed  cannibal  confesses  that 
he  has  not  quite  got  over  his  gloating  recollections  of 
the  delicacies  of  his  diabolical  cuisine;  or  that  fash- 
ionable converts  turn  with  a  yearning  heart,  not  to  the- 
atres and  balls,  but  to  the  "  dear  remembrance  "  of  the 
splendors  of  tattoo  and  amocos;  or  that  some  unlucky 
wretch  who  has  not  mastered  the  hideous  passions  of 
his  old  paganism  has  almost  battered  out  the  brains  of 
a  fellow-disciple  in  a  sudden  paroxysm  of  anger;  or 
that  some  timid  soul  is  haunted  with  half-sub -^ued  sus- 
picions that  some  great  goggle-eyed  idol,  with  whose 


Jr 


18  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

worship  his  whole  existence  has  been  associated,  is  not, 
what  St.  Paul  declares  it  is,  absolutely  "  nothing  in  the 
world."  And  then  you  vex  your  soul  about  these 
things,  and  worry  yourself  with  apprehensions  lest  "  you 
should  have  labored  in  vain  and  spent  your  strength 
for  naught " ;  and  lastly,  trouble  yourself  still  more  lest 
you  should  lose  your  temper  and  your  patience  into  the 
bargain. 

Yes,  your  scenery  is  doubtless  beautiful,  as  the 
sketches  you  have  sent  me  sufficiently  show ;  especially 
that  scene  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  Moraii  or  Mauroi, 
for  I  cannot  quite  make  out  the  pencil-marks.  But, 
beautiful  as  they  are,  they  are  not  more  so  than  those 
which  greet  my  eye  even  now  from  my  study  window. 

/  No,  there  is  no  fault  to  be  found  with  external  nature ; 

'  it  is  man  only  who  spoils  it  all.  I  see  nothing  in  sun, 
moon,  or  stars,  in  mountain,  forest,  or  stream,  that 
needs  to  be  altered ;  we  are  the  blot  on  this  fair  world. 
"  O  man,"  I  am  sometimes  ready  to  exclaim,  "  what  a 

" ;  but  I  check  myself,  for  as  Correggio  whispered 

to  himself  exultingly,  "  I  also  am  a  painter,"  so  must 
I,  though  with  very  different  feelings,  say,  ''  I  also  am 
a  man."  Johnson  said,  that  every  man  probably  knows 
worse  of  himself  than  he  certainly  knows  of  most  other 
men ;  and  so  I  am  determined  that  misanthropy,  if  it 
is  to  be  indulged  at  all,  shall,  like  its  opposite  charity, 
"begin  at  home." 

Yet,  now  I  think  better  of  it,  it  shall  not  begin  at 
all;  for  I  recollect  that  He  also  was  a  "man,"  who 
was  infinitely  more;  who  has  penetrated  even  this 
cloudy  shrine  of  clay  with  the  effulgence  of  His  glory ; 
and  so  let  me  resolve  that  our  common  humanity  shall 
be  held  sacred  for  His  sake,  and  pitied  for  its  own. 
Thus  ends  my  little,  transient  fit  of  spleen,  and  thus 
may  it  ever  end. 


INTRODUCTION. 


19 


May  we  feel  more  and  more,  my  dearest  brother, 
the  interior  presence  of  that  "guest  of  guests,"  that 
Divine  Impersonation  of  Truth,  Rectitude,  and  Love, 
whose  image  has  had  more  power  to  soothe  and  tran- 
quillize, stimulate  and  fortify,  the  human  heart,  than  all 
the  philosophies  ever  devised  by  man ;  who  has  not 
merely  left  us  rules  of  conduct,  expressed  with  incom- 
parable force  and  comprehensiveness,  and  illustrated  by 
images  of  unequalled  pathos  and  beauty;  who  was  not 
merely  (and  yet,  herein  alone,  how  superior  to  all  other 
riasters)  the  living  type  of  His  own  glorious  doctrine, 
and  affects  us  as  we  gaze  upon  Him  with  that  trans- 
forming influence  which  the  studious  contemplation  of 
all  excellence  exerts  by  a  necessary  law  of  our  nature ; 
but  whose  Life  and  Death  include  all  motives  which 
can  enforce  His  lessons  on  humanity  ;  —  motives  all 
intensely  animated  by  the  conviction  that  He  is  a  Liv- 
ing Personality,  in  communion  with  our  own  spirits, 
and  attracted  towards  us  by  all  the  sympathies  of  a 
friendship  truly  Divine ;  "  who  can  be  touched  with 
the  feelings  of  our  infirmities,  though  Himself  without 
sin."  May  He  become  so  familiar  to  our  souls,  that  no 
suggestions  of  evil  from  within,  no  incursion  of  evil 
from  without,  shall  be  so  swift  and  sudden  that  the 
thought  of  Him  shall  not  be  at  least  as  near  to  our 
spirits,  intercept  the  treachery  of  our  infirm  nature,  and 
guard  that  throne  which  He  alone  deserves  to  fill ;  till, 
at  every  turn  and  every  posture  of  our  earthly  life,  we 
may  realize  a  mental  image  of  that  countenance  of 
divine  compassion  bent  upon  us,  and  that  voice  of 
gentle  instruction  murmuring  in  our  ears  its  words  of 
heavenly  wisdom  ;  till,  whenever  tempted  to  deviate 
from  the  "  narrow  path,"  we  may  hear  Him  whispering, 
"  Will  ye  also  go  away  ?  "  when  hated  by  the  world,  — 
**  Ye  know  that  it  hated  me  before  it  hated  you  "  /  when 


20  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

called  to  perform  some  difficult  duty,  —  "  If  ye  love  me, 
keep  my  commandments  "  ;  when  disposed  to  make  an 
idol  of  any  thing  on  earth,  —  "  He  that  loveth  father  or 
mother  more  than  me  is  not  worthy  of  me"  ;  when  in 
suffering  and  trial,  — "  Whom  I  love  I  rebuke  and 
chasten  "  ;  when  our  way  is  dark,  —  "  What  I  do  thou 
knowest  not  now,  but  thou  shalt  know  hereafter  "  ;  till, 
in  a  word,  as  we  hear  His  faintest  footsteps  approaching 
our  hearts,  and  His  gentle  signal  there  according  to  His 
own  beautiful  image,  "  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door  and 
knock,"  our  souls  may  hasten  to  welcome  the  heav- 
enly guest. 

So  may  it  ever  be  with  you  and  me !  And  now  I 
find  the  very  thought  of  these  things  has  cured  all  my 
dark  and  turbulent  feelings,  as  indeed  it  ever  does  ; 
and  I  can  say  before  I  go  to  rest,  "  O  man,  my  broth- 
er, I  am  at  peace  with  thee  I  " 

Ah!  what  an  empire  is  His!  How,  even  at  the 
antipodes,  will  these  lines  touch  in  your  heart  a  chord 
responsive  to  that  which  vibrates  in  mine  I  ....  I  go 
to  Harrington  in  a  few  days,  and  as  our  conversation 
(perhaps,  alas !  our  controversies)  will  turn  upon  some 
of  the  most  momentous  religious  topics  of  the  day,  I 
shall  keep  an  exact  journal  —  Boswellize^  in  fact  —  for 
you,  as  well  as  I  can ;  and  how  well  some  of  my  earlier 
days  have  practised  my  memory  for  this  humble  office 
you  know.  I  shall  have  a  pleasure  in  this,  not  only 
because  you  will  be  glad  to  hear  all  I  can  communicate 
respecting  one  you  love  so  well,  but  also  because  in 
this  way,  perhaps,  I  shall  in  part  fulfil  your  earnest 
request  to  let  you  know  the  state  of  religion  amongst 
us.  You  will  expect,  of  course,  to  find  only  that  portion 
of  our  conversations  reported  which  relates  to  these 
subjects;  but  I  anticipate,  in  discussing  others,  some 
compensation  for  the  misery  which  will,  I  fear,  attend 
the  discussion  of  these. 


INTRODUCIION.  ^* 

Thank  your  conv  ert  Outai  for  his  present  of  his  grim 
idol.  It  is  certainly  "  brass  for  gold,"  considering  what 
I  sent  him  ;  but  do  not  tell  him  so.  If  a  man  gives  us 
his  gods,  what  more  can  he  do  ?  And  yet,  it  seems,  he 
may  be  the  richer  for  the  loss.  Never  was  a  question 
more  senseless  than  that  of  the  idolatrous  fool,  —  "  Ye 
have  taken  away  my  gods,  and  what  else  have  I  left  ?  " 
His  godship  was  a  little  injured  in  his  transit;  but 
he  was  very  perfect  in  deformity  before,  and  his  ugli- 
ness could  not,  by  any  accident,  be  improved.  I  have 
put  him  into  a  glass  case  with  some  stuffed  birds,  at 
which  he  ogles,  with  his  great  eyes,  in  a  manner  not 
altogether  divine.  His  condition,  therefore,  is  pretty 
nearly  that  to  which  prophecy  has  doomed  all  his  tribe  ; 
if  not  cast  to  the  "  moles  and  the  bats,"  it  is  to  the 
owls  and  parrots.  I  cannot  help  looking  at  him  some- 
times with  a  sort  of  respect  as  contrasted  with  his  wor- 
shippers ;  for  though  they  have  been  fools  enough  to 
worship  him,  he  has,  at  least,  not  been  fool  enough  to 
worship  them.  Yet  even  they  are  better  than  the  Pan- 
theist, who  must  regard  it  and  every  thing  else,  himself 
included,  as  a  fragment  of  divinity.  I  fear  that,  if  I 
could  regard  either  the  Pantheist  or  myself  as  divine^ 
nothing  in  the  world  could  keep  me  from  blasphemy 
every  day  and  all  day  long. 

"Again!"  you  will  say,  "my  brother;  is  not  that 
old  vein  of  bitterness  yet  exhausted  ?  "  But  be  it  known 
to  you  that  that  last  sarcasm  was  especially  intended 
for  my  own  behoof.  She  is  a  sly  jade,  —  conscience  ; 
like  many  other  folks,  she  has  a  trick  of  expressing  her 
rebukes  in  general  language ;  as  thus :  "  What  a  con- 
temptible set  of  creatures  the  race  of  men  are ! "  —  hop- 
ing that  some  folks  will  practically  take  it  to  heart. 
Sometimes  I  do ;  and  sometimes,  I  suppose,  like  my 
fellows,  I  look  very  grave,  and  approvingly  say,  "  It  is 


22  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

but  too  true,"  with  the  air  of  one  who  philosophically 
assents  to  a  proposition  in  which  he  is  totally  uninter- 
ested ;  whereupon  conscience  becomes  outrageous  and 
—  personal. 

I  can  easily  imagine  what  you  tell  me,  that  you 
hardly  know  the  difference  between  the  missionaries  of 
different  denominations,  and  are  very  much  troubled  to 
remember,  at  times,  which  is  which.  It  is  a  natural 
consequence  of  the  relations  in  which  you  stand  to 
heathenism.  I  fancy  the  sight  of  men  worshipping  an 
idol  with  four  heads  and  twice  as  many  hands  must 
considerably  abate  impressions  of  the  importance  of 
some  of  the  controversies  nearer  home.  Do  you  re- 
member the  passage  in  "  Woodstock,"  in  which  our  old 
favorite  represents  the  Episcopalian  Rochecliffe  and 
the  Presbyterian  Holdenough  meeting  unexpectedly  in 
prison,  after  many  year's  of  separation,  during  which 
one  had  thought  the  other  dead  ?  How  sincerely  glad 
they  were,  and  how  pleasantly  they  talked ;  when  lo  ! 
an  unhappy  reference  to  the  "  bishopric  of  Titus  "  grad- 
ually abated  the  fervor  of  their  charity,  and  inflamed 
that  of  their  zeal,  even  till  they  at  last  separated  in 
mutual  dudgeon,  and  sat  glowering  at  each  other  in 
their  distant  corners  with  looks  in  which  the  "  Episco- 
palian" and  "  Presbyterian"  were  much  more  evident 
than  the  "Christian";  —  and  so  they  persevered  till 
the  sudden  summons  to  them  and  their  fellow-prison- 
ers, to  prepare  for  instant  execution,  dissolved  as  with  a 
charm  the  anger  they  had  felt,  and  "  Forgive  me,  O  my 
brother,"  and  "  I  have  sinned  against  thee,  my  brother," 
broke  from  their  lips  as  they  took  what  they  thought 
would  be  a  last  farewell. 

I  imagine  that  a  feeling  a  little  resembling  this, 
though  from  a  different  cause,  makes  it  impossible  for 
you  to  remember,  in  the  presence  of  such  spiritual  hor 


INTRODUCTION.  2^ 

rors  as  heathenism  presents,  the  immense  importance 
of  many  of  the  controversies  so  hotly  waged  at  home. 
I  can  conceive  (as  some  of  our  zealots  would  say)  that 
you  are  tempted  to  a  certain  degree  of  insensibility  and 
defection  of  heart ;  that  you  no  longer  discern  the  mo- 
mentous superiority  of  "sprinkling"  over  "immersion," 
or  of  "immersion"  over  "sprinkling";  that  the  "wax 
candles,"  "  lighted "  and  "  unlighted,"  appear  to  you 
alike  insignificant;  that  even  the  jus  divinum  of  any 
system  of  ecclesiastical  government  is  sometimes  not 
discerned  with  absolute  precision;  and,  in  short,  that 
you  look  with  contemptuous  wonder  on  half  our. 
"great"  controversies.  If  I  mistake  not,  things  are/ 
coming  to  that  pass  amongst  us,  that  we  shall  soon 
think  of  them  almost  with  contemptuous  wonder  too.  - 
Vale^  —  et  ora  pro  me,  —  as  old  Luther  used  to  say  at 
the  end  of  his  letters.     I  will  write  again  soon. 

Your  affectionate  Brother, 

F.  B. 


24  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 


Grange,  July  7,  1851. 

My  dear  Brother  :  — 

I  HAVE  been  with  Harrington  a  week :  I  am  glad  to 
say  that  I  was  under  some  erroneous  impressions  when 
I  ^vrote  my  letter.  He  is  not  a  universal  sceptic,  —  he 
is  only  a  sceptic  in  relation  to  theological  and  ethical 
truth.  "  Alas ! "  you  will  say,  "  it  is  an  exception 
which  embraces  more  than  the  general  rule ;  it  little 
matters  what  else  he  believes." 

True ;  and  yet  there  is  consolation  in  it ;  for  other- 
wise it  would  have  been  impossible  to  hold  intercourse 
with  him  at  all.  If  he  had  reaso7ied  in  order  to  prove 
to  me  that  human  reason  cannot  be  trusted,  or  I  to 
convince  one  who  affirmed  its  universal  falsity,  it  were 
hard  to  say  whether  he  or  I  had  been  the  greater  fool. 
Your  universal  sceptic  —  if  he  choose  to  affect  that 
character,  —  no  man  is  it  —  is  impregnable;  his  true 
emblem  is  the  hedgehog  ensphered  in  his  prickles;  that 
is,  as  long  as  you  are  observing  him.  For  if  you  do 
not  thus  irritate  his  amour  propre^  and  put  him  on  the 
defensive,  he  will  unroll  himself.  Speaking,  reasoning, 
acting,  like  the  rest  of  the  world,  on  the  implied  truth- 
fulness of  the  faculties  whose  falsity  he  affirms,  he  will 
save  you  the  trouble  of  confuting  him,  by  confuting 
himself. 

And  I  am  glad,  for  another  reason,  that  Harrrington 

does  not  affect  this  universal  scepticism :  for  whereas, 

by  the  confession  of  its  greatest  masters,  it  is  at  best 

*)"   but  the  play  of  a  subtle  intellect,  so  it  does  not  afford 

a  very  flattering  picture  of  an  intellect  that  affects  it. 


INTRODUCTION.  25 

I  should  have  been  mortified,  I  confess,  had  Harrington 
been  chargeable  with  such  a  foible. 

It  is  true  that,  in  another  aspect,  all  this  makes  the 
case  more  desperate ;  for  his  scepticism,  so  far  as  it 
extends,  is  deep  and  genuine ;  it  is  no  play  of  an  in- 
genious subtilty,  nor  the  affectation  of  singularity  with 
him ;  —  and  my  prognostications  of  the  misery  which 
such  a  mind  must  feel  from  driving  over  the  tempestu- 
ous ocean  of  life  under  bare  poles,  without  chart  or 
compass,  are,  I  can  see,  verified.  One  fact,  I  confess, 
gives  me  hopes,  and  often  affords  me  pleasure  in  listen- 
ing to  him.  He  is  an  impartial  doubter;  he  doubts 
whether  Christianity  be  true ;  but  he  also  doubts  wheth- 
er it  be  false;  and,  either  from  his  impatience  of  the 
theories  which  infidelity  proposes  in  its  place,  as  inspir- 
ing yet  stronger  doubts,  or  in  revenge  for  the  peace  of 
which  he  has  been  robbed,  he  never  seems  more  at  home 
than  in  ridiculing  the  confidence  and  conceit  of  that 
internal  oracle,  which  professes  to  solve  the  problems 
which,  it  seems,  Christianity  leaves  in  darkness ;  and  in 
.pushing  the  principles  on  which  infidelity  rejects  the 
New  Testament  to  their  legitimate  conclusion. 

I  told  you,  in  general,  the  origin  and  the  progress  of 
his  scepticism.  I  suspect  there  are  causes  (perhaps  not 
distinctly  felt  by  him)  which  have  contributed  to  the 
result.  These,  it  may  be,  I  shall  never  know ;  but  it 
is  hardly  possible  not  to  suppose  that  some  bitter  ex- 
perience has  contributed  to  cloud,  thus  portentously, 
the  brightness  of  his  youth.  Something,  I  am  confi- 
dent, in  connection  with  his  long  residence  abroad,  has 
tended  to  warp  his  young  intellect  from  its  straight 
growth.  The  heart,  as  usual,  has  had  to  do  with  the 
logic;  and  "has  been  whispering  reasons  which  the 
reason  cannot  comprehend."  I  suspect  that  passionate 
hopes  have  been  buried^  —  whether  in  the  grave,  I  know 


26  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

not.  I  must  add,  that  an  indirect  and  most  potential 
cause,  not  indeed  of  the  origination,  yet  of  the  continu- 
ance, of  his  state  of  mind,  must  be  sought  in  what  the 
world  would  call  his  good  fortune.  His  maiden  aunt 
by  the  father's  side  left  her  favorite  nephew  her  pleasant, 
old-fashioned,  somewhat  gloomy,  but  picturesque  and 

comfortable    house   in  shire,  about  fifty   or    sixty 

acres  in  land,  and  three  or  four  hundred  a  year  into  the 
bargain.  Poor  old  lady  !  I  heartily  wish  she  had  kept 
him  out  of  possession  by  living  to  a  hundred  ;  or,  dying, 

had  left  every  farthing  to   "  endow  a  college  or  a 

cat."  To  Harrington  she  has  left  a  very  equivocal  her- 
itage. For  with  this  and  his  little  patrimony  he  is  en- 
tirely placed  above  the  necessity  of  professional  life, 
and  fully  qualified  to  live  (Heaven  help  him !)  as  a 
gentleman;  —  but,  unhappily,  as  a  gentleman  whose 
nature  is  deeply  speculative,  —  whose  life  has  been  one 
of  study,  —  and  who  has  no  active  tastes  or  habits  to 
correct  the  morbid  portions  of  his  character,  and  the 
dangers  of  his  position.  With  his  views  already  unset- 
tled, he  retired  a  few  months  ago  to  this  comparative 
solitude ;  (for  such  it  is,  though  the  place  is  not  many 

miles  from  the  learned  city  of ;)   and  partly  from 

the  tendencies  of  his  own  rnind,  partly  from  want  of 
some  powerful  stimulus  from  without,  he  soon  acquired 
the  pernicious  habit  of  almost  constant  seclusion  in  his 
library,  where  he  revolves,  as  if  fascinated,  the  philoso- 
phy of  doubt,  or  some  equally  distressing  themes ;  all 
which  has  now  issued  as  you  see.  The  contemplative 
and  the  active  life  are  both  necessary  to  man,  no  doubt ; 
but  in  how  different  proportions ! 

To  live  as  Harrington  has  lived  of  late,  is  to  breathe 
little  but  azote.  I  believe  that  all  these  ill  effects  would 
have  been,  though  not  obviated,  at  least  early  cured, 
had  he  been  compelled  to  mingle  in  active  life, — to 


INTRODUCTION.  27 

make  his  livelihood  by  a  profession.  The  bracing  air 
of  the  world  would  have  dissipated  these  vapors  which 
have  gathered  over  his  soul.  In  very  truth,  I  half  wish 
that  he  could  now  be  stripped  of  his  all,  and  compelled 
to  become  hedger  and  ditcher.  It  would  almost  be  a 
kindness  to  ruin  him  by  engaging  him  in  some  of  the 
worst  railway  speculations ! 

I  found  him  all  that  I  had  promised  to  find  him ; 
unchanged  towards  myself ;  sometimes  cheerful,  though 
oftener  melancholy,  or,  at  least,  to  all  appearances  en- 
nuye  ;  with  more  causticity  and  sarcasm  in  his  humor, 
but  without  misanthropy;  and  I  must  add,  with  the 
same  logical  fairness,  the  same  abhorrence  of  sophistry, 
which  were  his  early  characteristics. 

But  the  journal  of  my  visit,  which  I  am  most  dili- 
gently keeping,  wiU  more  fully  inform  you  of  his  state 
of  mind. 

F.  B. 


28  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 


Journal  of  a  Visit,  etc. 

July  1,  1851. 

I  arrived  at  Grange  this  day.  In  the  even- 
ing, as  Harrington  and  myself  were  conversing  in  the 
library,  I  availed  myself  of  a  pause  in  the  conversation 
to  break  the  ice  in  relation  to  the  topic  which  lay  near- 
est my  heart,  by  saying :  — 

"  And  so  you  have  become,  they  tell  me,  a  universal 
sceptic  ?  " 

"  Not  quite,"  he  replied,  throwing  one  of  his  feet 
over  the  edge  of  the  sofa  on  which  he  was  reclining, 
and  speaking  rather  dogmatically  (I  thought)  for  a 
sceptic.  "  Not  quite :  but  in  relation  to  religion  I  have 
certainly  become  convinced  that  certainty,  like  pride, 
was  not  made  for  man,  and  that  it  is  in  vain  for  man 
to  seek  it." 

I  was  amused  at  the  contradiction  of  a  certainty  of 
universal  uncertainty,  as  well  as  at  the  discovery  that 
there  was  nothing  to  be  discovered. 

He  noticed  my  smile,  and  divined  its  cause. 

"  Forgive  me,"  he  said,  "  that,  like  you  Christians  and 
believers  of  all  sorts,  I  sometimes  find  theory  discordant 
with  practice.  The  generality  of  people  are,  you  know, 
a  little  inconsistent  with  their  creed ;  suffer  me  to  be  so 
with  mine." 

"  I  have  no  objection,  Harrington,  in  the  world ;  the 
more  inconsistent  you  are,  the  better  I  shall  like  you ; 
you  have  my  free  leave  to  be,  in  relation  to  scepticism, 
just  what  the  Antinomian  is  in  relation  to  Christianity ; 
or  as  true  a  sceptic  as  he  was  a  true  Churchman  who 
showed  hi?  good  principles,  according  to  Dr.  Johnson, 


A    GENUINE    SCEPTIC.  29 

by  never  passing  a  church  without  taking  off  his  hat, 
though  he  never  went  into  it ;  or  even  as  FalstafF,  who 
had  forgotten  *  what  the  inside  of  a  church  was  made 
of.'  )  I  shall  be  contented  indeed  to  see  you  as  little  at- 
tached to  your  no-truth^  as  the  generality  of  Christians 
are  to  their  truth." 

"  I  thank  you,"  said  he,  a  little  sarcastically,  "  I  doubt 
if  I  shall  ever  be  able  to  reach  so  perfect  a  pitch  of  in- 
consistency. But  are  you  wise,  my  dear  uncle,  in  this 
taunt  ?  What  an  argument  have  you  suggested  to  me, 
if  I  thought  it  worth  while  to  make  use  of  it !  How 
have  you  surrendered,  without  once  thinking  of  the 
consequences,  the  practical  power  of  Christianity  !  " 

I  began  to  fear  that  there  would  be  a  good  deal  of 
sharp-shooting  between  us. 

"  I  have  surrendered  nothing,"  I  replied.  "  If  every 
thing  is  to  be  abandoned,  which,  though  professedly  the 
subject  of  man's  conviction,  he  fails  to  reduce  to  prac 
tice,  his  creed  will  be  short  enough.  Christianity,  how 
ever,  will  be  in  no  worse  condition  than  morals,  the  the- 
ory of  which  has  ever  been  in  lamentable  advance  of 
the  practice.  And  least  of  all  can  scepticism  stand 
such  a  test,  of  which  you  have  just  given  a  passing 
illustration.  Of  this  system,  or  rather  no-system,  there 
has  never  been  a  consistent  votary,  if  we  except  Pyrrho 
himself;  and  whether  he  were  not  an  insincere  sceptic, 
the  world  will  always  be  most  sincerely  sceptical.  But 
forgive  me  my  passing  gibe.  In  wishing  you  to  be  as 
inconsistent  as  nine  tenths  of  Christians  are,  I  did  not 
mean  to  prejudice  your  arguments,  such  as  they  are.  I 
know  it  is  not  in  your  power  to  be  otherwise  than  in- 
consistent; and  I  shall  always  have  that  argument 
against  you,  so  far  as  it  is  one." 

"  And  so  far  as  it  is  one,"  he  replied,  "  I  shall  always 
have  the  same  argument  against  you." 

8* 


30  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"Be  it  so,"  I  replied,  "  for  the  present :  I  am  unwill- 
ing to  engage  in  polemical  strife  with  you,  the  very 
first  evening  on  which  I  have  seen  you  for  so  long  a 
time.  I  would  much  rather  hear  a  chapter  of  your  past 
travels  and  adventures,  which  you  know  your  few  and 
brief  letters  — but  I  will  not  reproach  you  —  left  me  in 
such  ignorance  of." 

He  complied  with  my  request ;  and  in  the  course  of 
conversation  informed  me  of  many  circumstances  which 
had  formed  steps  in  that  slow  gradation  by  which  he 
had  reached  his  present  state  of  mind;  a  state  which 
he  did  not  affect  to  conceal.  But  still  I  felt  sure  there 
were  other  causes  which  he  did  not  mention. 

At  length  I  said,  "  You  must  give  me  the  title  of  an 
t^ld  friend,  —  a  father,  Harrington,  I  might  almost  say," 
■ —  and  the  tears  came  into  my  eyes,  —  "  to  talk  hereaf- 
ter fully  with  you  of  your  so  certain  uncertainty  about 
the  only  topics  which  supremely  affect  the  happiness  of 
man." 

I  told  him,  and  I  spoke  it  in  no  idle  compliment,  that 
I  was  convinced  he  was  far  enough  from  being  one  of 
those  shallow  fools  who  are  inclined  to  scepticism  be- 
cause they  shrink  from  the  trouble  of  investigating  evi- 
dence ;  who  find  so  much  to  be  said  for  this,  and  so 
much  for  that,  that  they  conclude  that  there  is  no 
truth,  simply  because  they  are  too  indolent  to  seek  it. 
"  This,"  said  I,  "  is  the  plea  of  intellectual  Sybarites 
with  w^hom  you  have  nothing  in  common.  And  as  lit- 
tle do  you  sympathize  with  those  dishonest,  though  not 
always  shallow  thinkers,  who  take  refuge  in  alleged 
uncertainty  of  evidence,  because  they  are  afraid  of  pur- 
y  suing  it  to  unwelcome  conclusions ;  who  are  sceptics 
on  the  most  singular  and  inconsistent  of  all  grounds, 
presumption.     I  know  you  are  none  of  these." 

"  I  am,  I  think,  none  of  these,"  said  he  quietly. 


A    GENUINE    SCEPTIC.  dl 

"  You  are  not :  and  your  manner  and  countenance 
proclaim  it  yet  more  strongly  than  your  words.  The 
only  genuine  effect  of  a  sincere  scepticism  is  and  must 
be,  not  the  complacent  and  frivolous  humor  which  too 
often  attaches  to  it,  but  a  mournful  confession  of  the 
Melancholy  condition  to  which,  if  true,  the  theory  re- 
duces the  sceptic  himself  and  all  mankind.") 

Of  all  the  paradoxes  humanity  exhibits,  surely  there 
are  none   more  wonderful  than  the  complacency  with 
which  scepticism  often  utters  its  doubts,  and  the  tran- 
quillity which  it  boasts  as  the  perfection  of  its  system ! 
Such  a  state  of  mind  is  utterly  inconsistent  with  the 
genuine  realization  and  true-hearted  reception  of  the 
theory.     On  such  subjects  such  a  creature  as  man  can- 
not be  in  doubt,  and  really  feel  his  doubts,  without 
being   anxious    and   miserable.     When    I    hear   some 
youth  telling  me,  with  a  simpering  face,  that  he  does  not 
knov),  or  pretend  to  say^  whether  there  be  a  God,  or  not , 
or  whether,  if  there  be.  He  takes  any  interest  in  human  ) 
affairs;  or  whether,  if  He  does,  it  much  imports  us  to"- 
know;  or  whether,  if  He  has  revealed  that  knowledge,  , 
it  is  possible  or  impossible  for  us  to  ascertain  it ;  when  ) 
I  hear  him  further  saying,  that  meantime  he  is  disposed'^ 
to  make  himself  very  easy  in  the  midst  of  these  uncer- 
tainties, and  to  await  the  great  revelation  of  the  future 
with  philosophical,  that  is,  being  interpreted,  with  idiotic  ) 
tranquillity,  I  see  that,  in  point  of  fact,  he  has  never  en-  | 
tered  into  the  question  at  all ;  that  he  has  failed  to  ' 
realize  the  terrible  moment  of  the  questions  (however 
they  may  be  decided)  of  which  he  speaks  with  such 
amazing  flippancy. 

It  is  too  often  the  result  of  thoughtlessness ;  of  a  wish 
to  get  rid  of  truths  unwelcome  to  the  heart ;  of  a  vain 
love  of  paradox,  or  perhaps,  in  many  cases,  (as  a  friend 
of  mine  said,)  of  an  amiable  wish  to  frighten  "  mammas 


32  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

and  maiden  aunts."  But  let  us  be  assured  that  a  frivo- 
lous sceptic,  —  a  sceptic  indeed,  —  after  duly  pondering 
and  feeling  the  doubts  he  professes  to  embrace,  is  an 
impossibility.  "What  may  be  expected  in  the  genuine 
sceptic  is  a  modest  hope  that  he  may  be  mistaken ;  a 
desire  to  be  confuted  ;  a  retention  of  his  convictions  as 
if  they  were  a  guilty  secret;  or  the  promulgation  of 
them  only  as  the  utterance  of  an  agonized  heart,  unable 
to  suppress  the  language  of  its  misery ;  a  dread  of  mak- 
ing proselytes,  —  even  as  men  refrain  from  exposing 
their  sores  or  plague-infected  garments  in  the  eyes  of 
the  world.  The  least  we  can  expect  from  him  is  that 
mood  of  mind  which  Pascal  so  sublimely  says  becomes 

the  Atheist "Is  this,  then,  a  thing  to  be  said  with 

gayety  ?  Is  it  not  rather  a  thing  to  be  said  with  tears, 
as  the  saddest  thing  in  the  world  ?  " 

The  current  of  conversation  after  a  while,  somehow, 
swept  us  round  again  to  the  point  I  had  resolved  to  quit 
for  this  evening.  "  But  since  we  are  there,"  said  I,  "  I 
wish  you  would  in  brief  tell  me  why,  when  you  doubted 
of  Christianity,'you  did  not  stop  at  any  of  those  harbors 
of  refuge  which,  in  our  time  especially,  have  been  so 
plentifully  provided  for  those  who  reject  the  New  Tes- 
tament ?  You  are  not  ignorant,  I  know,  of  the  writings 
of  Mr.  Theodore  Parker,  and  other  modern  Deists. 
How  is  it  that  none  of  them  even  transiently  satisfied 
you  ?  An  ingenious  eclecticism  founded  on  them  has 
satisfied,  you  see,  your  old  college  friend,  George  Fel- 
lowes,  of  whom  I  hear  rare  things.  He  is  far  enough 
from  being  a  sceptic." 

"  Why,"  said  he,  laughing,  "  it  is  quite  true  that 
George  is  not  a  sceptic.  He  has  believed  more  and 
disbelieved  more,  and  both  one  and  the  other  for  less 
reason,  than  any  other  man  I  know.  He  used  to  send 
me  the  strangest  letters  when  I  was  abroad,  and  almost 


A    VERSATILE    BELIEVER.  33 

every  one  presented  him  under  some  new  phase.  No, 
he  is  no  sceptic.  If  he  has  rejected  almost  every  thing, 
he  has  also  embraced  almost  every  thing ;  at  each  point 
in  his  career,  his  versatile  faith  has  found  him  some 
system  to  replace  that  he  had  abandoned ;  and  he  is 
now  a  dogmatist  par  excellence^  for  he  has  adopted  a 
theory  of  religion  which  formally  abjures  intellect  and 
logic,  and  is  as  sincerely  abjured  by  them.  If  the  diffi- 
culties he  has  successively  encountered  had  been  seen 
all  at  once,  I  fancy  he  would  have  been  much  where  I 
am.  Poor  George !  <  Sufficient  unto  the  day,'  with 
him,  is  the  theology  '  thereof  !  I  picture  him  to  myself 
going  out  of  a  morning,  with  his  new  theological  dress 
upon  him,  and,  chancing  to  meet  with  some  friend,  who 
protests  that  there  is  some  thing  or  other  not  quite 
*  comme  il  faut,'  he  proceeds  with  infinite  complacency 
to  alter  that  portion  of  his  attire  ;  the  new  costume  is 
found  equally  obnoxious  to  the  criticism  of  somebody 
else,  and  off  it  goes  like  the  rest." 

This  was  a  ludicrous,  but  not  untrue,  representation 
of  George  Fellowes's  mind  ;  only  the  "  friend "  in  the 
image  must  be  supposed  to  mean  his  own  wayward 
fancy  ;  for  he  is  not  particularly  amenable  (though  very 
amiable)  to  external  influences.  So  dominant,  how- 
ever, is  present  feeling  and  impulse,  or  so  deficient  is  he 
in  comprehensiveness,  that  he  often  takes  up  with  the 
most  trumpery  arguments ;  that  is,  for  a  few  days  at  » 
time.  Yet  he  does  not  want  acuteness.  I  have  known 
him  shine  strongly  (as  has  been  said  of  some  one  else) 
upon  an  angle  of  a  subject;  but  he  never  sheds  over  its 
whole  surface  an  equable  illumination.  Where  evi- 
dence is  complicated  and  various,  and  consists  of  many 
opposing  or  modifying  elements,  he  never  troubles  him- 
self to  compute  the  sum  total,  and  strike  a  fair  balance. 
He  stands  aghast  in  the  presence  of  an  objection  which 


34  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAlTHi 

he  cannot  solve,  and  loses  all  presence  of  mind  in  its 
contemplation.  He  seldom  considers  whether  there  are 
not  still  greater  objections  on  the  other  side,  nor  how 
much  farther,  if  a  principle  be  just,  it  ought  to  carry 
him.  The  mode  in  which  he  looks  at  a  subject  often 
reminds  me  of  the  way  in  which  the  eye,  according  to 
^metaphysicians,  surveys  an  extensive  landscape.  It 
/  sees,  they  say,  only  a  point  at  a  time,  punctum  visi- 
bile,  which  is  perpetually  shifting ;  and  the  impression 
of  the  whole  is  in  fact  a  rapid  combination,  by  means 
of  memory,  of  perceptions  all  but  coexistent ;  if  the 
attention  be  strongly  fixed  upon  some  one  object,  the  rest 
of  the  landscape  comparatively  fades  from  the  view. 
Now  George  Fellowes  seemed  to  me,  in  a  survey  of  a 
large  subject,  to  have  an  incomparable  faculty  of  seeing 
the  minimum  visibile,  and  that  so  ardently,  that  all  the 
rest  of  the  landscape  vanished  at  the  moment  from  his 
perceptions. 

"  "Well,"  said  I,  smiling,  "  you  must  not  blame  him 
for  his  not  reaching  at  once  and  per  saltum  your  posi- 
tion. He  has  been  more  deliberate  in  stripping  himself. 
Yet  he  has  come  on  pretty  well.  You  ought  not  to 
despair  of  him.     I  wonder  at  what  point  he  is  now." 

"  You  may  ask  him  to-morrow,"  said  he,  "  for  I  am 
expecting  him  here  to  spend  a  few  weeks  with  me.  At 
whatever  point  he  may  be  in  these  days  of  *  progress,' 
as  they  are  called,  he  does  not  know  that  I  am  already 
arrived  at  the  ne  plus  ultra;  for  my  letters  to  him  were 
yet  briefer  and  rarer  than  to  you  ;  and  I  never  touched 
on  these  topics.  "Where  would  have  been  the  use  of 
asking  counsel  of  such  an  oracle  ?  " 

I  said  I  should  be  glad  to  see  him.  "  But  I  shall  be 
still  better  pleased  to  hear  from  you,  why  you  are  dis- 
satisfied with  any  such  system  as  his,  and  especially 
why  you  say  he  ought  in  consistency  to  go  much  far- 
ther." 


A    VERSATILE    BELIEVER.  35 

"  I  am  far  from  saying  that  my  reasons  will  be  satis- 
factory, but  I  will  endeavor,  if  you  wish  it,  to  justify 
my  opinion." 

"  I  shall  certainly  expect  no  less,"  replied  I.  "  You 
are  strangely  altered,  if  you  are  willing  to  assert  ^vith- 
out  attempting  to  prove ;  and  if  you  were  altered,  I  am 
not.     When  will  you  let  me  hear  you  ?  " 

"  O,  in  a  day  or  two,  when  I  have  had  time  to  put 
my  thoughts  on  paper;  but,  if  I  mistake  not,  some  of 
the  most  important  points  will  be  discussed  before  that, 
for  Fellowes^J[  hear^^  is  a  very  knight-errant  of  '  spiritu- 
alism,' and  it  is  a  thousand  to  one  but  he  attempts  to 
convert  me.     I  intend  to  let  him  have  full  opportunity." 

"  I  hardly  know,"  said  I,  "  Harrington,  whether  I 
wish  him  success  or  not.  But  one  thing,  surely,  all 
must  admire  in  him :  I  mean  his  candor.  What  less 
than  this  can  prompt  him,  after  abandoning  with  such 
extraordinary  facility  so  many  creeds  and  fragments  of 
creeds,  after  travelling  round  the  whole  circle  of  theology, 
to  confess  with  such  charming  simplicity  the  whole  his- 
tory of  his  mental  revolutions,  and  expose  himself  to 
the  charge  of  unimaginable  caprice,  —  of  theological 
coquetry  ?  I  protest  to  you  that,  a  priori^  I  should  have 
thought  it  impossible  that  any  man  could  have  made 
so  many  and  such  violent  turns  in  so  short  a  time  with- 
out a  dislocation  of  all  the  joints  of  his  soul,  —  without 
incurring  the  danger  of  a  '  universal  anchylosis.' " 

"  One  would  imagine,"  said  Harrington,  with  a  laugh, 
"that,  in  your  estimate,  his  mind  resembles  that  in- 
genious toy  by  which  the  union  of  the  various  colored 
rays  of  light  is  illustrated :  the  red,  the  yellow,  the 
blue,  the  green,  and  so  forth,  are  distinctly  painted  on  f^ 
the  compartments  of  a  card ;  but  no  sooner  are  they 
put  into  a  state  of  rapid  revolution  than  the  whole 
appears  white.     Such,  it  seems,  is  the  appearance  of 


S6  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

George  Fellowes  in  that  rapid  gyration  to  which  he  has 
been  subjected:  the  party-colored  rays  of  his  various 
creeds  are  lost  sight  of,  and  the  pure  white  of  hi»  '  can- 
dor '  is  alone  visible !  " 

"  For  myself,"  said  I,  "  I  feel  in  some  measure  incom- 
petent to  pronounce  on  his  present  system.  "When  I 
saw  him  for  a  short  time  a  few  months  ago,  he  told  me 
that,  though  his  versatility  of  faith  had  certainly  been 
great,  he  must  remind  me  (as  Mr.  Newman  had  said) 
that  he  had  seen  both  sides ;  that  persons  like  myself, 
for  example,  have  had  but  one  experience  ;  whereas  he 
has  had  twoP 

"  If  he  were  to  urge  me  with  such  an  argument,"  re- 
plied Harrington,  "  I  should  say  we  are  even  then. 
But  I  think  even  you  could  reply :  '  You  certainly  do 
yourself  injustice,  Mr.  Fellow^es,  in  saying  you  have 
had  two  experiences.  You  have  had  two  dozen  at 
least ;  but  whether  that  can  qualify  you  for  speaking 
with  any  authority  on  these  subjects  I  much  doubt;  to 
give  any  weight  to  the  opinions  of  any  man  some  sta- 
bility at  least  is  necessary.' " 

This  I  could  not  gainsay.  Slow  revolutions  on  mo- 
mentous subjects,  when  there  has  been  much  sobriety  as 
well  as  diligence  of  investigation,  are,  perhaps,  not  to  be 
despised  as  authority.  Some  superior  weight  may  even 
be  attached  to  the  later  and  maturer  views.  But  if  a 
man  changes  them  every  other  day  ;  if  they  rise  and  fall 
with  the  barometer ;  if  his  whole  life  has  been  one  rapid 
pirouette^  it  is  impossible  with  gravity  to  discuss  the 
question,  whether  at  some  point  he  may  not  have  been 
right.  "Whoever  be  in  the  right,  he  cannot  well  be  who 
rhas  never  long  been  any  thing;  and  to  take  such  a  man 
,for  a  guide  would  be  almost  as  absurd  as  to  mistake  a 
^weathercock  for  a  signpost. 

"  In  seeking  religious  counsel  of  George  Fellowes," 


PURITAN    INFIDELITY.  flftf 

said  Harrington,  "  I  should  feel  much  as  Jeannie  Deans, 
when  she  went  to  the  *  Interpreter's  House,'  as  Madge 
Wildfire  calls  it,  in  company  with  that  fantastical  per- 
sonage. But  he  is  a  kind-hearted,  amiable  fellow,  and, 
in  short,  I  cannot  help  liking  him." 


July  2.  Mr.  Fellowes  arrived  this  day  about  noon. 
He  is  about  a  year  younger  than  Harrington.  The 
afternoon  was  spent  very  pleasantly  in  general  conver- 
sation. In  the  evening,  after  tea,  we  went  into  the 
Library.  I  told  the  two  friends  that,  as  they  had  doubt- 
less much  to  talk  of,  and  as  I  had  plenty  of  occupation 
for  my  pen,  I  would  sit  down  at  an  adjoining  table 
with  my  desk,  and  they  might  go  on  with  their  chat. 
They  did  so,  and  for  some  time  talked  of  old  college 
days  and  on  indifferent  subjects  ;  but  my  attention  was 
Boon  irresistibly  attracted  by  finding  them  getting  into 
conversation  in  which,  on^  Harrington's  account,  I  felt 
a  deeper  interest.  I  found  my  employment  impossible, 
and  yet,  desiring  to  hear  them  discuss  their  theological  dif- 
ferences without  constraint,  I  did  not  venture  to  interrupt 
tha^.  At  last  the  distraction  became  intolerable  ;  and, 
looking  up,  I  said,  "  Gentlemen,  I  believe  you  might 
talk  on  the  most  private  matters  without  my  attending 
to  one  syllable  you  said;  but  if  you  get  upon  these 
theological  subjects,  such  is  my  present  interest  in 
them,"  glancing  at  Harrington,  "  that  I  shall  be  perpetu- 
ally making  blunders  in  my  manuscript.  Let  me  beg 
of  you  to  avoid  them  when  I  am  with  you,  or  let  me 
go  into  another  room."  Harrington  would  not  hear  of 
the  last ;  and  as  to  the  first  he  said,  and  said  truly,  that 
it  would  impede  the  free  current  of  conversation, 
"  which,"  said  he,  "  to  be  pleasurable  at  all,  must  wind 
hither  and  thither  as  the  fit  takes  us.     It  is  like  a  raany- 

4 


*.fl8  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

stringed  Ijrre,  and  to  break  any  one  of  the  chords  is  tc 
mar  the  music.  And  so,  my  good  uncle,  if  you  find  us 
getting  upon  these  topics,  join  us  ;  we  shall  seldom  be 
long  at  a  time  upon  them,  I  will  answer  for  it ;  or  if 
you  will  not  do  that,  and  yet,  though  disturbed  by  our 
chatter,  are  too  polite  to  show  it,  why,  amuse  your- 
>j  self  (I  know  your  old  tachy graphic  skill,  which  used  so 
to  move  my  wonder  in  childhood),  I  say,  amuse  your- 
self, or  rather  avenge  yourself,  by  jotting  down  some 
fragments  of  our  absurdities,  and  afterwards  showing  us 
what  a  couple  of  fools  we  have  been."  I  was  secretly 
delighted  with  the  suggestion ;  and,  when  the  subjects 
of  dispute  were  very  interesting,  threw  aside  my  work, 
whatever  it  was,  and  reported  them  pretty  copiously. 
Hence  the  completeness  and  accuracy  of  this  admirable 
journal.  I  cannot  of  course  always,  or  even  often, 
vouch  for  the  ipsissima  verba  ;  and  some  few  explana- 
tory sentences  I  have  been  obliged  to  add.  But  the 
substance  of  the  dialogues  is  faithfully  given.  I  need 
not  say,  that  they  refer  only  to  subjects  of  a  theological 
and  polemical  nature. 

I  hardly  know  how  the  conversation  took  the  turn  it 
did  on  the  present  occasion ;  but  I  think  it  was  from 
Mr.  Fellowes's  noticing  Harrington's  pale  looks,  and 
conjecturing  all  sorts  of  reasons  for  his  occasional  lapses 
into  melancholy. 

His  friend  hoped  this  and  hoped  that,  as  usual. 

Harrington  at  last,  seeing  his  curiosity  awakened,  and 
that  he  would  go  on  conjecturing  all  sorts  of  things, 
said,  "  To  terminate  your  suspense,  be  it  known  to  you 
that  I  am  a  bankrupt ! " 

"  A  bankrupt ! "  said  the  other,  with  evident  alarm  ; 
"  you  surely  have  not  been  so  unwise  as  to  risk  your 
recently  acquired  property,  or  to  speculate  in " 

"  You  have  hit  it,"  said  Harrington  ;  "  I  have  specu- 
lated far  more  deeply  than  you  suppose." 


PURITAN    INFIDELITY.  39 

The  countenance  of  his  friend  lengthened  visibly. 

"  Be  not  alarmed,"  resumed  Harrington,  with  a  smile ; 
"  I  mean  that  I  have  speculated  a  good  deal  in — philos- 
ophy, and  when  I  said  I  was  a  bankrupt,  I  meant  only 
that  I  was  a  bankrupt — in  faith;  having  become  in 
fact,  since  I  saw  you  last,  thoroughly  sceptical." 

The  countenance  of  Fellowes  contracted  to  its  proper 
dimensions.  He  looked  even  cheerful  to  find  that  his 
friend  had  merely  lost  his  faith,  and  not  his  fortune. 

"  Is  that  all  ?  "  said  he,  "  I  am  heartily  glad  to  hear 
it.  Sceptic !  No,  no ;  you  must  not  be  a  sceptic  either, 
except  for  a  time,"  continued  he,  musing  very  sagely. 
"  It  is  no  bad  thing  for  a  while :  for  it  at  least  leaves 
the  house  *  empty,  swept  and  garnished.'  " 

"  Rather  an  unhappy  application  of  your  remnant  of 
Biblical  knowledge,"  said  Harrington ;  "  I  hope  you  do 
not  intend  to  go  on  with  the  text." 

"  No,  no,  my  dear  friend;  I  warrant  you  we  shall  find 
you  worthier  guests  than  any  such  fragments  of  supposed 
revelation.  If  you  are  in  *  search  of  a  religion,'  how 
happy  should  I  be  to  aid  you  I " 

"  I  shall  be  infinitely  obliged  to  you,"  said  Harring- 
ton, gravely ;  "  for  at  present  I  do  not  know  that  I  pos- 
sess a  farthing's  worth  of  solid  gold  in  the  world.  Ah ! 
that  it  were  but  in  your  power  to  lend  me  some ;  but  I 
fear  "  (he  added  half  sarcastically)  "  that  you  have  not 
got  more  than  enough  for  yourself.  I  assure  you  that 
I  am  far  from  happy."    ' 

He  spoke  with  so  much  gravity,  that  I  hardly  knew 
whether  to  attribute  it  to  some  intention  of  dissembling 
a  little  with  his  friend,  or  to  an  involuntary  expression 
of  the  experience  of  a  mind  that  felt  the  sorrows  of  a 
genuine  scepticism.     It  might  be  both. 

However,  it  brought  things  to  a  crisis  at  once.  His 
college  friend  looked  equally  surprised  and  pleased  at 
his  appeal. 


40  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

.  "  I  trust,"  said  he,  with  becoming  solemnity,  "  that 
\all  this  is  merely  a  temporary  reaction  from  having 
[believed  too  much;  the  languor  and  dejection  which 
attend  the  morrow  after  a  night's  debauch.  I  assure 
you  that  I  rejoice  rather  than  grieve  to  hear  that  you 
have  curtailed  your  orthodoxy.  It  has  been  just  my 
own  case,  as  you  know ;  only  I  flatter  myself,  that,  per- 
haps having  less  subtilty  than  you,  I  have  not  passed 
the  ^  golden  mean'  between  superstition  and  scepticism, 
—  between  believing  too  much  and  believing  too  little." 

I  looked  up  for  a  moment.  I  saw  a  laugh  in  Har- 
rington's eyes,  but  not  a  feature  moved.  It  passed 
away  immediately. 

"  I  tell  you,"  said  he,  "  that  I  believe  absolutely  no 
s^  one  religious  dogma  whatever ;  while  yet  I  would  give 
worlds,  if  I  had  theni,  to  set  my  foot  upon  a  rock.  I 
should  even  be  grateful  to  any  one,  who,  if  he  did  not 
give  me  truth,  gave  me  a  phantom  of  it,  which  I  could 
mistake  for  reality."  He  again  spoke  with  an  earnest- 
ness of  tone  and  manner,  which  convinced  me  that,  if 
there  were  any  dissimulation,  it  cost  him  little  trouble. 

"  If  you  merely  meant,"  said  Fellowes,  "  that  you  do 
I  not  retain  any  vestige  of  your  early  *  historical '  and 
j*  dogmatical '  Christianity,  why,  /retain  just  as  little  of 
it.  Indeed,  I  doubt,"  he  continued,  with  perhaps  su- 
perfluous candor,  "whether  I  ever  was  a  Christian"; 
and  he  seemed  rather  anxious  to  show  that  his  creed 
had  been  nominal. 

"  If  it  will  save  you  the  trouble  of  proving  it,"  said 
Harrington,  "  I  will  liberally  grant  you  both  your  prem- 
ises and  your  conclusion,  without  asking  you  to  state 
the  one  or  prove  the  other." 

"  Well,  then.  Christian  or  no  Christian,  there  was  a 
time,  at  all  events,  when  I  was  orthodox^  you  will  grant 
that;  when   I  should  have  been  willing   to   sign   the 


PURITAN    INFIDELITY.  41 

Thirty-nine  Articles  ;  or  three  hundred  and  thirty-nine ; 
or  the  Confession  of  Faith ;  or  any  other  compilation,  or 
all  others  ;  though  perhaps,  if  strictly  examined,  I  might 
have  been  found  in  the  condition  of  the  infidel  Scotch 
Professor,  who,  being  asked  on  his  appointment  to  his  / 
Chair,  whether  the  *  Confession  of  Faith '  contained  all  x 
that  he  believed,  replied,  *  Yes,  Gentlemen,  and  a  great_ 
deal  more.'     I  have  rejected  all  '  creeds  * ;  and  I  havet  ) 
now  found  what  the  Scripture  calls  that  *  peace  which  \ 
passeth  all  understanding.'  "  (^^ 

"  I  am  sure  it  passes  mine,"  said  Harrington,  "  if  you 
really  have  found  it,  and  I  should  be  much  obliged  to 
you  if  you  would  let  me  participate  in  the  discov- 
ery." 

"  Yes,"  said  Fellowes,  "  I  have  been  delivered  from 
the  intolerable  burden  of  all  discussions  as  to  dogma,  , 
and  all  examinations  of  evidence.     I  have  escaped  from  \ 
the  *  bondage  of  the  letter,'  and  have  been  introduced 
into  the  *  liberty  of  the  spirit.'  " 

"  Your  language,  at  all  events,  is  richly  Scriptural," 
said  Harrington  ;  "  it  is  as  though  you  were  determined 
not  to  leave  the  *  letter '  of  the  Scripture,  even  if  you 
renounce  the  ^  spirit '  of  it." 

"  Renounce  the  spirit  of  it!  say  rather,  that  in  fact 
I  have  only  now  discovered  it.  Though  no  Christian 
in  the  ordinary  sense,  I  am,  I  hope,  something  better ; 
and  a  truer  Christian  in  the  spirit  than  thousands  of 
those  in  the  letter." 

"  Letter  and  spirit !  my  friend,"  said  Harrington, 
"  you  puzzle  me  exceedingly  ;  you  tell  me  one  moment 
that  you  do  not  believe  in  historical  Christianity  at  all, 
either  its  miracles  or  dogmas,  —  these  are  fables ;  but 
in  the  next,  why,  no  old  Puritan  could  garnish  such 
discourse  with  a  more  edifying  use  of  the  language  of 
Scripture.     I  suppose  you  will  next  tell  me  that  you 


42  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

understand  the  *  spirit '  of  Christianity  better  even  than 
Paul." 

"  So  I  do,"  said  our  visitor  complacently,  "  '  Paulo 
majora  canamus ' ;  for  after  all  he  was  but  half  delivered 
from  his  Jewish  prejudices;  and  when  he  quitted  the 
nonsense  of  the  Old  Testament,  —  though  in  fact  he 
never  did  thoroughly,  —  he  evidently  believed  the  fables 
of  the  New  just  as  much  as  the  pure  truths  which  lie 
at  the  basis  of  '  spiritual '  Christianity.  We  separate 
the  dross  of  Christianity  from  its  fine  gold.  *  The  letter 
Jidlleth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life,'  —  'the  fruit  of  the 

i /spirit  is  joy,  peace,'  not " 

"  Upon  my  word,"  said  Harrington,  laughing,  "  I 
shall  begin  to  fancy  presently  that  Douce  Davie  Deans 
has  turned  infidel,  and  shall  expect  to  hear  of  '  right- 
hand  fallings  off  and  left-hand  defections.'  But  tell  me, 
if  you  would  have  me  think  you  rational,  is  not  your 
j  meaning  this  :  —  that  the  New  Testament  contains, 
I  amidst  an  infinity  of  rubbish,  the  statement  of  certain 
*  spiritual '  truths  which,  and  which  alone,  you  recog- 


«  Certainly." 

"  But  you  do  not  acknowledge  that  these  are  derived 
from  the  New  Testament." 

;~^  "  Heaven  forbid ;  they  are  indigenous  to  the  heart 
jof  man,  and  are  anterior  to  all  Testaments,  old  or 
new*" 

"  Very  well ;  then  speak  of  them  as  your  heart  dic- 
tates, and  do  not,  unless  you  would  have  the  world 
think  you  a  hypocrite,  willing  to  cajole  it  with  the  idea 
that  you  are  a  believer  in  the  New  Testament,  while 
you  in  fact  reject  it,  or  one  of  the  most  barren  and 
uninventive  of  all  human  beings,  or  fanatically  fond 
of  mystical  language,  —  do  not,  I  say,  affect  this  very 
unctuous  way  of  talking.     And,  for  another  reason,  do 


PURITAN    INFIDELITY.  43 

not,  I  beseech  you,  adopt  the  phraseology  of  men  who, 
according  to  your  view,  must  surely  have  been  either 
the  most  miserable  fanatics  or  the  most  abominable 
impostors  ;  for  if  they  believed  all  that  system  of  miracle 
and  doctrine  they  professed,  and  this  were  not  true, 
they  were  certainly  the  first ;  and  if  they  did  not  believe 
it,  they  were  as  certainly  the  second." 

"  Pardon  me ;  I  believe  them  to  have  been  eminently 
holy  men,  —  full  of  spiritual  wisdom  and  of  a  truly  sub- 
lime faith,  though  conjoined  with  much  ignorance  and 
credulity,  which  it  is  unworthy  of  us  to  tolerate." 

"  Whether  it  could  be  ignorance  and  credulity  on 
your  theory,"  retorted  Harrington,  "  is  to  my  mind  very 
doubtful.  Whether  any  men  can  untruly  affirm  that 
they  saw  and  did  the  things  the  Apostles  say  they  saw 
and  did,  and  yet  be  sincere  fanatics,  I  know  not ;  but 
even  were  it  so,  since  it  shows  (as  do  also  the  mystical 
doctrines  you  reject  as  false)  that  they  could  be  little 
less  than  out  of  their  senses ;  and  as  you  further  say 
that  the  spiritual  sentiments  you  retain  in  common  with 
them  were  no  gift  of  theirs,  but  are  yours  and  all  man- 
kind's, by  original  inheritance,  uttered  by  the  oracle  of 
the  human  heart  before  any  Testaments  were  written, 
—  why,  speak  your  thoughts  in  your  own  language." 

"  Ay,  but  how  do  we  know  that  these  original  Chris- 
tians said  that  they  had  seen  and  done  the  things  you 
refer  to  ?  which  of  course  they  never  did  see  and  do, 
because  they  were  miraculous.  How  do  we  know  what 
additions  and  corruptions  as  to  fact,  and  what  disguises 
of  mystical  doctrine,  *the  idealizing  biographers  and 
historians '  (as  Strauss  truly  calls  them)  may  have  ac- 
cumulated upon  their  simple  utterances  ?  " 

"  And  how  do  you  know,  then,  whether  they  ever 
uttered  these  simple  *  utterances '  ?  or  whether  they  are 
not  part  of  the  corruptions  ?  or  how  can  you  separate 


b 


44  ,  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

the  one  from  the  other  ?  or  how  can  you  ascertain  that 
these  men  meant  what  you  mean,  when  you  thus  ser- 
vilely copy  their  language  ?  " 

Because  I  know  these  truths  independently  of  the 
Bible,  to  be  sure." 

"  Then  speak  of  them  independently  of  the  Bible.  If 
you  profess  to  have  broken  the  stereotype-plates  of  the 
*  old  revelation '  and  delivered  mankind  from  their  bond- 
age, do  not  proceed  to  express  yourself  only  in  fragments 
from  them ;  if  you  profess  freedom  of  soul,  and  the 
possession  of  the  pure  truth,  do  not  appear  to  be  so 
poverty-stricken  as  to  array  your  thoughts  in  the  tatters 
of  the  cast-off  Bible." 

"  Ay,  but  the  '  saints '  of  the  Bible,"  replied  Fellowes, 
"  are,  even  by  Mr.  Frank  Newman's  own  confession, 
those  who  have  entered,  after  all,  most  profoundly  into 
the  truths  of  spiritual  religion,  and  stand  almost  alone 
in  the  history  of  the  world  in  that  respect." 

"  If  it  be  so,  it  is  certainly  very  odd,  considering  the 
mountain-loads  of  folly,  error,  fable,  fiction,  from  which 
their  spiritual  religion  did  not  in  your  esteem  defend 
them,  and  which  you  say  you  are  obliged  to  reject.  It 
is  a  phenomenon  of  which,  I  think,  you  are  bound  to 
give  some  account." 

"  But  what  is  there  so  wonderful  in  supposing  them 
in  possession  of  superior  *  spiritual '  advantages,  with 
mistaken  history  and  fallacious  logic,  and  so  forth  ?  " 

"  Why,-"  answered  Harrington,  "  one  wonder  is,  that 
they  alone,  and  amidst  such  gross  errors,  should  possess 
these  spiritual  advantages.  But  it  also  appears  to  me 
that  your  notions  of  the  '  spiritual '  are  not  the  same  as 
theirs,  for  you  reject  the  New  Testament  dogmas  as 
well  as  its  history ;  if  so,  it  is  another  reason  for  not 
misleading  us  by  using  language  in  deceptive  senses. 
But,  at  all  events,  I  cannot  help  pitying  your  poverty  of 


PURITAN    INFIDELITY.  45 

thought,  or  poverty  of  expression,  —  one  or  both  ;  and  I 
beg  you,  for  my  sake,  if  not  for  your  own,  to  express 
your  thoughts  as  much  as  possible  in  your  own  terms, 
and  avail  yourself  less  liberally  of  those  of  David  and 
Paul,  whose  language  ordinary  Christians  will  always 
associate  with  another  meaning,  and  can  never  believe 
you  sincere  in  supposing  that  it  rightfully  expresses  the 
doctrines  of  your  most '  spiritual '  infidelity.  They  will 
certainly  hear  your  Scriptural  and  devout  language  with 
the  same  feehngs  with  which  they  would  nauseate  that 
most  oppressive  of  all  odors,  —  the  faint  scent  of  laven- 
der in  the  chamber  of  death.  My  good  uncle  here,  who 
cannot  be  prevailed  upon  to  reject  the  Bible,  will  not,  I 
am  sure,  hear  you,  without  supposing  that  you  resemble 
those  Rationalists  of  whom  Menzel  says, « These  gen- 
tlemen smilingly  taught  their  theological  pupils  that 
unbelief  was  the  true  apostolic,  primitive  Christian  be- 
lief ;  they  put  all  their  insipidities  into  Christ's  mouth, 
and  made  him,  by  means  of  their  exegetical  jugglery, 
sometimes  a  Kantian,  sometimes  a  Hegelian,  sometimes 
one  ian  and  sometimes  another,  'wie  es  dem  Herrn 
Professor  beliebt' :  neither  will  he  be  able  to  imagine 
that  you  are  not  resorting  to  this  artifice  for  the  same 
purpose.  '  The  Bible,'  says  Menzel,  '  and  their  Reason 
being  incompatible,  why  do  they  not  let  them  remain 
separate  ?  Why  insist  on  harmonizing  things  which  do 
not,  and  never  can  harmonize  ?  It  is  because  they  are 
aware  that  the  Bible  has  authority  with  the  people ; 
otherwise  they  would  never  trouble  themselves  about  so 
troublesome  a  book.'  I  cannot  suspect  you  of  such 
hypocrisy ;  but  I  must  confess  I  regard  your  language 
as  cant.  As  I  listen  to  you  I  seem  to  see  a  hybrid  be- 
tween Prynne  and  Voltaire.  So  far  from  its  being  true 
that  you  have  renounced  the  *  letter '  of  the  Bible  and 
retained  its    spirit,'  I  think  it  would  be  much  more  cor 


/ 


46  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

rect  to  say,  comparing  your  Infidel  hypothesis  with  your 
most  spiritual  dialect,  that  you  have  renounced  the 
*  spirit '  of  the  Bible  and  retained  its  '  letter.'  " 

"  But  are  you  in  a  condition  to  give  an  opinion  ?  " 
said  Fellowes,  with  a  serious  air.  "  Mr.  Newman  says 
in  a  like  case,  *  The  natural  man  discerneth  not  the 
things  of  the  spirit  of  God,  because  they  are  foolishness 
unto  him ' ;  it  is  the  *  spiritual  man  only  who  searcheth 
the  deep  things  of  God.'  At  the  same  time  I  freely 
acknowledge  that  I  never  could  see  my  way  clear  to 
employ  an  argument  which  looks  so  arrogant ;  and  the 
less,  as  I  believe,  with  Mr.  Parker,  that  the  only  true 
revelation  is  in  all  men  alike.  Yet,  on  the  other  hand, 
I  cannot  doubt  my  own  consciousness^ 

"  Why,  no  man  doubts  his  own  consciousness^^  said 
Harrington,  laughing.  "  The  question  is.  What  is  its 
value  ?  What  is  the  criterion  of  universal  '  spiritual 
truth,'  if  there  be  any  ?  Those  words  in  Paul's  mouth 
were  well,  and  had  a  meaning.  In  yours,  I  suspect, 
they  would  have  none,  or  a  very  different  one.  He 
dreamt  that  he  was  giving  to  mankind  (vainly,  as  it 
seems)  a  system  of  doctrines  and  truths  which  were, 
many  of  them,  transcendental  to  the  human  intellect 
and  conscience,  and  which  when  revealed  were  very 
distasteful  (and  not  least  to  you) ;  but  the  assertion 
of  a  spiritual  monopoly  would  assuredly  sound  rather 
odd  in  one  who  professes,  if  I  understand  you,  that  God 
has  given  to  man  (for  it  is  no  discovery  of  any  indi- 
vidual) an  internal  and  universal  revelation!  But  of 
your  possible  lirnitations  of  your  universal  spiritual  rev- 
elation, —  which  all  men  *  naturally  '  possess,  but  which 
the 'natural  man'  receiveth  not, — we  will  talk  here- 
after. Sceptic  as  I  am,  I  am  not  a  sceptic  who  is  rec- 
onciled to  scepticism.  Meantime,  you  reject  the  Bible 
in  tola,  as  an  external  rcTclation  of  God,  if  I  understand 
you." 


PURITAN   INFIDELITY.  47 

"  Jw  toto;  and  I  believe  that  it  has  received  in  this    s^ 
age  its  death-blow."  / 

"  Ay,   that  is   what  the   infidel    has   been    always     ] 
promising  us ;  meantime,  they  somehow  perish,  and  it  ^C^ 
laughs  at  them.     You  remember,  perhaps,  the  words  of 
old  Woolston,  so  many  fragments  of  whose  criticism, 
as  those  of  many  others,  have  been  incorporated  by 
Strauss.     He  had,  as  he  elegantly  expresses  it,  *  cut  out 
such  a  piece  of  work  for  the  Boylean  lectures  as  should 
hold  them  tug  as  long  as  the  ministry  of  the  letter 
should  last ' ;  for  he  too,  you  see,  masked  his  infidelity 
by  a  distinction  between  the  '  letter '  and  the  '  spirit,' 
though  he  applied  the  convenient  terms  in  a  totally 
different  sense.     Poor  soul !     The  fundamental  princi- 
ples of  his  infidelity  are  surrendered  by  Strauss  him-  \ 
self     Similarly,  a  score  of  assailants  of  the  Bible  have  -^  ' 
appeared  and  vanished  since  his  day ;  each  proclaim-  ) 
ing,  just  as  he  himself  went  to  the  bottom,  that  he  had  \ 
given  the  Bible  its  death-blow !     Somehow,  however, " 
that  singular  book  continues  to  flourish,  to  propagate 
itself,  to  speak  all  languages,  to  intermingle  more  and 
more  with  the  literature  of  all  civilized  nations ;  while 
mankind  will  not  accept,  slaves  as  they  are,  the  intel- 
lectual freedom  you  offer  them.     It  is  really  very  pro- 
voking ;  of  what  use  is  it  to  destroy  the  Bible  so  often, 
when  it  lives  the  next  minute?     I  have  little  doubt 
your  new  attempts  will  end  just  like  the  labors  of  the 
Rationalists  of  the  Paulus  school,  so  graphically  de- 
scribed by  the  German  writer  whom  I  have  already 
referred  to.     ^  It  is  sad,  no  doubt,'  says  he,  or  something  ^ 
to  the  same  effect,  ^  that,  after  fifty  years'   exegetical  f 
grubbing,  weeding,  and  pruning  at  the  mighty  primi-   / 
tive   forest   of  the  Bible,  the   next   generation  should 7^ 
persist  in  saying  that  the  "Nationalist  had  destroyed  the     y 
forest  only  in  his  own  addled  imagination,  and  that  it    ? 
is  just  as  it  was.' "  ^j--^_ 


48  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  Yes ;  but  the  new  weapons  will  not  be  so  easily 
evaded  as  those  of  a  past  age." 

"  Will  they  not  ?  We  shall  see.  You  must  not 
prophesy ;  in  that,  you  know,  you  do  not  believe." 

"  No  ;  but  nevertheless  we  shall  see  so-called  sacred 
dogma  and  history  exploded,  for  Mr.  Newman " 

"  Thinks  so,  of  course ;  and  he  must  be  right,  because 
he  has  never  been  known  to  be  wrong  in  any  of  his 
judgments,  or  even  to  vary  in  them.  But  we  have  had 
enough,  I  think,  of  these  subjects  this  evening,  and  it  ifc 
wOo  bad  to  give  you  only  a  controversial  welcome.  I 
want  to  have  some  conversation  with  you  about  very 
different  things,  and  more  pleasant  just  now.  We  shall 
have  plenty  of  opportunity  to  discuss  theological  points.'- 

To  this  Fellowes  assented :  they  resumed  generai 
conversation,  and  I  finished  my  letters. 


July  3.     We  were  ail  sitting,  as  on  the  previous  day, 
in  the  library. 

"  Book-faith  !  "  I   heard   Harrington   say,  laughing ; 
"  why,  as  to  that  I  must  needs  acknowledge  that  the 
whole  school  of  Deism,  *  rational '  or  *  spiritual,'  have  the 
least  reason  in  the  world  to  indulge  in  sneers  at  book- 
faith  ;  for,  upon  my  word,  their  faith  has  consisted  in 
little  else.     Their  systems  are  parchment  religions,  my 
friend,  all  of  them ;  —  books,  books,  for  ever,  from  Lord 
Herbert's  time  downwards,  are  all  they  have  yet  given 
to  the  world.     They  have  ever  been  boastful  and  loud- 
tongued,  but  have  done  nothing;  there  are  no  great 
social  efforts,  no  organizations,  no  practical  projects, 
whether  successful  or  futile,  to  which  they  can  point, 
^he  old  <  book-faiths '  which  you  venture  to  ridicule 
^have  been  something  at  all  events ;  and,  in  truth,  I  can 
'  find  no  other  '  faith '  than  what  is  somehow  or  other 


LORD    HERBERT    AND    MODERN    DEISM.  49 

attached  to  a  'book,'  which  has  been  any  thing  influ- 
ential.     The    Vedas,  the   Koran,  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures,  —  those   of    the   New,  —  over    how    many 
millions  have  these  all  reigned !  Whether  their  suprem- 
acy be  right  or  wrong,  their  doctrine  true  or  false,  is 
another  question  ;  but  your  faith,  which  has  been  book- 
faith  and  lip-service  par  excellence^  has  done  nothing 
that  I  can  discover.     One  after  another  of  your  infidel 
Reformers  passes  away,  and  leaves  no  trace  behind, 
except  a  quantity  of  crumbling  '  book-faith.'     You  have 
always  been  just  on  the  eve  of  extinguishing  super-  "s 
natural  fables,  dogmas,  and  superstitions,  —  and  then  \ 
regenerating  the  world!    Alas!    the  meanest  supersti-    ) 
tion  that  crawls  laughs  at  you ;  and,  false  as  it  may  be, 
is  still  stronger  than  you." 

"  And  your  sect,"  retorted  Fellowes,  rather  warmly, 
"if  you  come  to  that,  is  it  not  the  smallest  of  all?  Is 
that  likely  to  find  favor  in  the  eyes  of  mankind  ?  " 

"  Why,  no,"  said  Harrington,  with  provoking  cool- 
ness ;  "  but  then  it  makes  no  pretensions  to  any  thing  of 
the  kind.  It  were  strange  if  it  did ;  for  as  the  sceptic 
doubts  if  any  truth  can  be  certainly  attained  by  man  on  j 
those  subjects  on  which  the  'rational'  or  the  '  spiritual' ; 
deist  dogmatizes,  it  of  course  professes  to  be  incapable 
of  constructing  any  thing." 

"  And  does  construct  nothing,"  retorted  Fellowes. 

"  Very  true,"  said  Harrington,  "  and  therein  keeps  its 
word ;  which  is  more,  I  fear,  than  can  be  said  with  your 
more  ambitious  spiritualists,  who  profess  to  construct, 
and  do  not." 

"  But  you  must  give  the  school  of  spiritualism  time : 

it  is  only  just  born.     You  seem  to  me  to  be  confound- 

'ng  the  school  of  the  old,  dry,  logical  deism  with  the 

young,  fresh,  vigorous,  earnest  school'  which  appegds 

o  '  insight '  and  '  intuition.' " 


50  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  No  "  said  Harrington,  "  I  think  I  do  not  confound 
The  first  and  the  best  of  our  English  deists  derived  his 
system  as  immediately  from  intuitions  as  Mr.  Parker  or 
you.  You  know  how  it  sped  —  or,  if  you  do  not,  you 
may  easily  discover  —  with  his  successors :  they  con- 
tinually disputed  about  it,  curtailed  it,  added  to  it, 
altered  it,  agreed  in  nothing  but  the  author's  rejection 
of  Christianity,  and  forgot  more  and  more  the  decency 
of  his  style.  So  will  it  be  with  your  Mr.  Newman  and 
his  successors.  They  will  acquiesce  in  his  rejection  of 
Christianity;  depend  upon  it,  in  nothing  more.  He 
may  get  his  admirers  to  abandon  the  Bible,  but  they 
will  have  naught  to  do  with  the  *  loves,  and  joys,  and 
sorrows,  and  raptures,  which  he  describes  in  the  '  Soul'  j 
they  would  just  as  soon  read  the  *  Canticles.' " 

"  I  really  cannot  admit,"  said  Fellowes,  "  that  we 
modern  spiritualists  are  to  be  confounded  with  Lord 
Herbert." 

"  Not  confounded  with  him,  certainly,"  replied  Har- 
rington, "  but  identified  with  him  you  may  be ;  except, 
to  be  sure,  that  he  was  convinced  of  the  immortality  of 
man  as  one  of  the  few  articles  of  all  religion ;  while 
many  of  you  deny,  or  doubt  it.     The  doctrines  " 

"  Call  them  sentiments,  rather ;  I  like  that  term 
better." 

"  O,  certainly,  if  you  prefer  it ;  only  be  pleased  to 
observe  that  a  sentiment  felt  is  a  fact,  and  el  fact  is  a 
truth,  and  a  truth  may  surely  be  expressed  in  a  propo- 
sition. That  is  all  I  am  anxious  about  at  present.  If 
so  far,  at  least,  we  may  not  patch  up  the  divorce  which 
Mr.  Newman  has  pronounced  between  the  *  intellect' 
and  the  '  soul,'  it  is  of  no  use  for  us  to  talk  about  the 
matter.     I  say  that  Lord  Herbert's  articles " 

"  There  again,  <  articles,' "  said  Fellowes;  "  I  hate  the 
word ;  I  could  almost  imagine  that  you  were  going  to 
recite  the  formidable  Thirty-nine." 


LORD    HERBERT    AND    MODERN    DEISM.  51 

"  Rather,  from  your  outcry,  one  would  suppose  I  was 
about  to  inflict  the  forty  save  one;  but  do  not  be 
alarmed.  The  articles  neither  of  Lord  Herbert's  creed 
nor  of  your  own,  I  suspect,  are  thirty-nine,  or  any  thing 
like  it.     The  catalogue  will  be  soon  exhausted." 

"  Here  again,  '  creed ' :  I  detest  the  word.  We  have 
no  creed.  Your  very  language  chills  me.  It  reminds 
me  of  the  dry  orthodoxy  of  the  *  letter,'  *  logical  pro- 
cesses,' '  intellectual  propositions,'  and  so  forth.  Speak 
of  '  spiritual  truths '  and  '  sentiments,'  which  are  the 
product  of  immediate  '  insight,'  of  *  an  insight  into 
God,'  a  'spontaneous  impression  on  the  gazing  soul,' 
to  adopt  Mr.  Newman's  beautiful  expressions,  and  I 
shall  understand  you." 

"  I  am  afraid  I  shall  hardly  understand  myself  then," 
cried  Harrington.  "  But  let  us  not  be  scared  by  mere 
words,  nor  go  into  hysterics  at  the  sound  of  *  logic'  and 
*  creed,'  lest  'sentimental  spirituality'  be  found,  like 
some  other  'sentimental'  things,  a  bundle  of  senseless 
affectations." 

"But  you  forget  that  there  is  all  the  diflerence  in 
the  world  between  Herbert  and  his  deistical  successors., 
They  connected  religion  with  the  '  intellectual  and  sen-  \ 
sational,'  and  we  with  the  '  instinctive  and  emotional ' 
sides  of  human  nature." 

"  If  you  think,"  said  the  other,  "  (the  substance  of 
your  religious  system  being,  as  I  believe,  precisely  the 
same  as  that  of  Lord  Herbert  and  the  better  deists,)  that 
you  can  make  it  more  effective  than  it  has  been  in  the 
past,  by  conjuring  with  the  words  '  sensational  and  in 
teUectual,'  'instinctive  and  emotional,'  or  that  the  mix 
ture  of  chalk  and  water  will  be  more  potent  with  one 
label  than  with  the  other,  I  fancy  you  will  find  yourself 
deceived.  The  distinctions  you  refer  to  have  to  do  with 
the  theory  of  the  subject,  and  will  make  din  enough,  no 


52  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

doubt,  among  such  as  Mr.  Newman  and  yourself;  but 
mankind  at  large  will  be  unable  even  to  enter  into  the 
meaning'  of  your  refinements.  They  will  say  briefly  and 
bluntly,  *  What  are  the  truths,  whether,  as  Lord  Her- 
bert says,  they  are  "  innate/'  or^^  as ^ow  say,  "  spiritual  in- 
tuitions," (we  care  nothing  for  the  phraseology  of  either 
or  both  of  you,)  which  are  to  be  admitted  by  universal 
humanity,  and  to  be  influential  over  the  heart  and  con- 
science?' Now,  I  suspect  that,  when  you  come  to  the 
enumeration  of  these  truths,  your  system  and  that  of 
Lord  Herbert  will  be  found  the  same ;  only  as  regards 
the  immortality  of  the  soul  his  tone  is  firmer  than  per- 
haps I  shall  find  yours.  But  I  admit  the  policy  of  a 
change  of  name  :  '  Rationalist '  and  *  Deist '  have  a  bad 
sound ;  '  Spiritualist '  is  a  better  nom  de  guerre  for  the 
present." 

"  We  shall  never  understand  one  another,"  said  Fel- 
lowes :  "  the  spiritual  man " 

"  Pshaw !  "  said  Harrington  ;  "  you  can  immediately 
bring  the  matter  to  the  test  by  telling  me  what  you 
maintain,  and  then  I  shall  know  whether  your  system 
is  or  is  not  identical  with  Lord  Herbert's ;  or  rather  tell 
me  what  you  do  not  believe,  and  let  us  come  to  it  that 
^ay.  Do  you  believe  a  single  shred  of  any  of  the  su- 
pernatural narratives  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Fellowes ;  "  a  thousand  times  no." 

"  Very  well,  that  gets  rid  of  at  least  four  sevenths  of 
1    the  Bible.     Do  you  believe  in  the  Trinity,  the  Atone- 
ment, the  Resurrection  of  Christ,  in  a  general  Resurrec- 
tion, in  the  Day  of  Judgment  ?  " 

"  No,  not  in  one  of  them,"  said  Fellowes ;  "  not  in  a 
particle  of  one  of  them." 
r^  "  Pretty  well  again.     You  reject,  then,  the  character- 
I  istic  doctrines  of  Christianity  ?  " 
V   "  Not  one  of  them,"  Was  the  answer. 


LORD    HERBERT    AND    MODERN    DEISM.  53 

"  We  are  indeed  in  danger  of  misunderstanding  one 
another,"  said    Harrington.     "But   tell   me,  is  it  noT^ 
your  boast,  as  of  Mr.  Parker,  that  the  truths  which  are 
essential  to  religion  are  not  peculiar  to  Christianity/)  but 
are  involved  in  all  religions  ?  " 

"  Assuredly." 

"  If  I  were  to  ask  you  what  were  the  essential  attri- 
butes of  a  man,  would  you  assign  those  which  he  hat. 
in  common  with  a  pig-  ?  " 

"  Certainly  not." 

"  But  if  I  asked  you  what  were  those  of  an  animal^ 
I  presume  you  would  give  those  which  both  species 
possessed,  and  none  that  either  possessed  exclusively." 

"  I  should." 

"  Need  I  add,  then,  that  you  are  deceiving  yourself 
when  you  say  that  you  believe  all  the  characteristic 
doctrines  of  Christianity,  since  you  say  that  you  believe 
only  those  which  it  has  in  common  with  ever^/  religion  ? 
If  I  were  to  ask  you  what  doctrines  are  essential  to 
constitute  any  religion,  then  you  would  do  well  to  enu- 
merate those  which  belong  to  Christianity  and  every 
other.  But  when  w^e  talk  of  the  doctrines  peculiar  to 
Christianity,  we  mean  those  which  discriminate  it  from 
every  other,  and  not  those  which  are  common  to  it  with 
them." 

"But  however,"  said  Fellowes,  "none  of  the  doc- 
trines you  have  enumerated  are  a  part  of  Christianity, 
but  are  mere  additions  of  imposture  or  fanaticism." 

"  Then  what  are  the  doctrines  which,  though  com- 
mon to  every  other  religion,  are  characteristic  of  it? 
What  is  left  that  is  essential  or  peculiar  to  Christiani- 
ty, when  you  have  denuded  it  of  all  that  you  reject? 
Is  it  not  then  assimilated,  by  your  own  confession,  to^^ 
every  other  religion?  How  shall  we  discriminate  ' 
them?" 


54  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  B/  this,  perhaps,"  said  Fellowes,  "  (for  I  acknowl- 
edge some  difficulty  here,)  that  Christianity  contains 
these  truths  of  absolute  religion  alone  and  pure.  As 
Mr.  Parker  says,  This  is  the  glory  of  genuine  Chris- 
tianity." 

"Do  you  not  see  that  this  is  the  very  question, — 
you  yourself  being  obliged  to  reject  nine  tenths  of  the 
statements  in  the  only  records  in  which  we  know  any 
thing  about  it  ?  Might  not  an  ancient  priest  of  Jupiter 
say  the  same  of  Ids  religion,  by  first  divesting  it  of  all 
but  that  which  you  say  it  had  in  common  with  every 
other  ?  However,  let  us  now  look  at  the  positive  side. 
What  is  the  residuum  which  you  condescend  to  leave 
to  your  genuine  Christianity?  " 
Y~^  "  Christianity,"  said  Fellowes,  rather  pompously,  "  is 
not  so  much  a  system  as  a  discipline,  — not  a  creed,  but 
a  life :  in  short,  a  divine  philosophy." 

"  All  which  I  have  heard  from  all  sorts  of  Christians 
a  thousand  times,"  cried  Harrington ;  "  and  it  is  delight- 
fully vague;  it  may  mean  any  thing  or  nothing.  But 
the  truths^  the  truths,  what  are  they,  my  friend  ?  I  see 
I  must  get  them  from  you  by  fragments.  Your  faith 
includes,  I  presume,  a  belief  in  one  Supreme  God,  who 
is  a  Divine  Personality ;  in  the  duty  of  reverencing,  lov- 
ing, and  obeying  him,  —  whether  you  know  how  that 
is  to  be  done  or  not;  that  we  must  repent  of  our  sins, 
—  if  indeed  we  duly  know  what  things  are  sins  in  his 
sight;  that  he  will  certainly  forgive  to  any  extent  on 
such  repentance,  without  any  mediation ;  that  perhaps 
there  is  a  heaven  hereafter ;  but  that  it  is  very  doubful 
if  there  are  any  punishments." 

"  I  do  believe,"  said  Fellowes,  "  these  are  the  cardi- 
nal doctrines  of  the  '  Absolute  Religion,'  as  Mr.  Parker 
calls  it.  Nor  can  I  conceive  that  any  others  are  ne- 
ressary." 


LORD    HfellBEfet    AND    MODERM    DEISM.  55 

"  Well,"  said  Harrington,  "  with  the  exception  of  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  on  which  Lord  Herbert  has  the 
advantage  of  speaking  a  little  more  firmly,  the  Deists  and 
such  *  spiritualists '  as  you  are  assuredly  identical.  I 
have  simply  abridged  his  articles.  The  same  project  as 
your  '  spiritualism '  or  '  naturalism,'  in  all  its  essential 
features,  has  been  often  tried  before,  and  found  wanting ; 
that  is,  of  guaranteeing  to  man  a  sufficient  and  infal- 
lible internal  oracle,  independent  of  all  aid  from  external 
revelation,  and  of  proving  that  he  has,  in  effect,  possessed 
and  enjoyed  it  always  ;  only  that,  by  a  slight  inadver- 
tence (I  suppose),  he  did  not  know  it.  The  theory, 
indeed,  is  rather  suspiciously  confined  to  those  who 
have  previously  had  the  Bible.  No  such  plenary  con- 
fidence is  found  in  the  ancient  heathen  philosophers, 
who,  in  many  not  obscure  places,  acknowledge  that  the 
path  of  mortal  man,  by  his  internal  light,  is  a  little  dim. 
Many,  therefore,  say,  that  the  '  Naturalists  '  and  *  Spir- 
itualists '  are  but  plagiarists  from  the  Bible,  and  of 
course,  like  other  plagiarists,  depreciate  the  sources  from 
which  they  have  stolen  their  treasures.  I  think  unjustly ; 
for,  whatever  their  obligations  to  that  mutilated  volume, 
I  acknowledge  they  have  transformed  Christianity  quite 
sufficiently  to  entitle  themselves  to  the  praise  of  origi- 
nality ;  and  if  the  Battle  of  the  Books  were  to  be  fought 
over  again,  I  doubt  whether  Moses  or  Paul  would  think 
it  worth  while  to  make  any  other  answer  than  that  of 
Plato  in  that  witty  piece,  to  the  Grub  Street  author, 
who  boasted  that  he  had  not  been  in  the  sfighest  degree 
indebted  to  the  classics  :  Plato  declared  that,  upon  his 
honor,  he  believed  him  !  Whether  the  successors  of 
the  Herberts  and  Tindals  of  a  former  day  are  not 
plagiarists  from  them^  is  another  question,  and  depends 
entirely  upon  whether  the  wtitings  of  their  predecessors 
are  sufficiently  known  to  them.     Probably,  the  hopeless 


56  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

oblivion  which,  for  the  most  part,  covers  them  (for  the 
perverse  world  has  been  again  and  again  assured  of  its 
infallible  internal  light,  and  has  persisted  in  denying 
that  it  has  it)  will  protect  our  modern  authors  from  the 
imputation  of  plagiarism  ;  but  that  the  systems  in  ques- 
tion are  essentially  identical  can  hardly  admit  of  doubt. 
The  principal  difference  is  as  to  the  organon  by  which 
the  revelation  affirmed  to  be  internal  and  universal  is 
apprehended ;  it  affects  the  metaphysics  of  the  question, 
and,  like  all  metaphysics,  is  characteristically  dark.  But 
about  this  you  will  not  get  the  mass  of  mankind  to  care 
any  more  than  you  can  get  yourselves  to  agree ;  no,  nor 
will  you  agree  even  about  the  system  itself.  Nay,  you 
modern  spiritualists,  just  as  the  elder  deists,  are  already 
quarrelling  about  it.  In  short,  the  universal  light  in 
man's  soul  flickers  and.  wavers  most  abominably." 

"  I  see,"  said  Fell  owes,  "  you  are  profoundly  preju- 
diced against  the  spiritualists." 

"  I  believe  not,"  said  Harrington ;  "  the  worst  I  wish 
them  is  that  they  may  be  honest  men,  and  appear  what 
they  really  are." 

"  I  suppose  next,"  exclaimed  the  other,  "  you  will 
attribute  to  the  modern  spiritualists  the  scurrility  of 
the  elder  deists,  —  of  Woolston,  Tindal,  and  Collins  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Harrington,  "  I  answer  no ;  nor  do  I 
(remember)  compare  Lord  Herbert  in  these  respects 
with  his  successors.  He  was  an  amiable  enthusiast ;  in 
many  respects  resembling  Mr.  Newman  himself.  Do 
you  remember,  by  the  way,  how  that  most  reasonable 
rejecter  of  all  *  external '  revelation  prayed  that  he 
might  be  directed  by  Heaven  whether  he  should  publish 
or  not  publish  his  *  book '  ?  about  which,  if  Heaven  was 
very  solicitous,  this  world  has  since  been  very  indif- 
ferent. Having  distinctly  heard  *  a  sound  as  of  thun- 
der,' on  a  very  *  calm  and  serene  day,'  he  immediately 


SOIME    CURIOUS    PARADOXES.  57 

received  it  as  a  preternatural  answer  to  prayer,  and  an 
indubitable  sign  of  Heaven's  concurrence ! " 

"  No  such  taint  of  superstition,  however,  will  be  found 
clinging  to  Mr.  Newman.  He  has  most  thoroughly- 
abjured  all  notion  of  an  external  revelation ;  nay,  he 
denies  the  possibility  of  a  <  book-revelation  of  spiritual 
and  moral  truth ' ;  and  I  am  confident  that  his  dilemma 
on  that  point  is  unassailable." 

"  Be  it  so,"  answered  Harrington ;  "  you  will  readily 
suppose  I  am  not  inclined  to  contest  that  point  very 
vigorously ;  yet  I  confess  that,  as  usual,  my  inveterate 
scepticism  leaves  me  in  some  doubts.  Will  you  assist 
me  in  resolving  them  ?  —  but  not  to-night ;  let  us  have 
a  little  more  talk  about  old  college  days,  —  or  what  say 
you  to  a  game  at  chess  ?  " 


July  4.  I  thought  this  day  would  have  passed  ofi 
entirely  without  polemics ;  but  I  was  mistaken.  In 
the  evening  Harrington,  after  a  very  cheerful  morning, 
relapsed  into  one  of  his  pensive  moods.  Conversation 
flagged ;  at  last  I  heard  Fellowes  say,  "  I  have  this 
advantage  of  you,  my  friend,  that  my  sentiments  have, 
at  all  events,  produced  that  peace  of  which  you  are  in 
quest,  and  which  your  countenance  at  times  too  plainly 
declares  you  not  to  possess.  If  you  had  it,  you  would 
not  take  so  gloomy  a  view  of  things.  Like  hin 
from  whom  I  have  derived  some  of  my  sentiments,  1 
have  found  that  they  tend  to  make  me  a  happier  man. 
The  Christian,  like  yourself,  looks  upon  every  thing 
with  a  jaundiced  or  distorted  eye,  and  is  apt  to  under- 
rate the  claims  and  pleasures  of  this  present  sccoe  of 
our  existence.  I  can  truly  say  that  I  now  enter  into 
them  much  more  keenly  than  I  could  when  I  was  an 
orthodox   Christian.     I  can  say  with  Mr.  Newman,  I 


58  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

now,  with  deliberate  approval,  *  love  the  world  and  the 
things  of  the  world.'  The  New  Testament,  as  Mr. 
Newman  says,  bids  us  watch  perpetually,  not  knowing 
whether  the  Lord  will  return  at  cock-crowing  or  mid- 
day ;  '  that  the  only  thing  worth  spending  one's  energies 
on,  is  the  forwarding  of  men's  salvation.'  Now  I  must 
say  with  him,  that,  while  I  believed  this,  I  acted  an 
eccentric  and  unprofitable  part." 

^'  Only  then  ? "  said  Harrington.  "  You  were  for- 
tunate." 

He  says,  that  to  teach  the  certain  speedy  destruc- 
tion of  earthly  things,  as  the  New  Testament  does,  is  to 
cut  the  sinews  of  all  earthly  progress ;  to  declare  war 
against  intellect  and  imagination,  against  industrial  and 
social  advancement." 

My  gravity  was  hardly  equal  to  the  task  of  listening 
to  the  first  part  of  Mr.  Fellowes's  speech.  To  hear  that 
the  common  and  just  reproach  against  all  mankind,  but 
especially  against  all  Christians,  of  taking  too  keen  an 
interest  in  the  present,  was  in  a  large  measure  at  least 
founded  upon  a  mistake ;  to  find,  in  fact,  that  there  was 
some  danger  of  an  excessive  exaggeration  of  the  claims 
of  the  future,  which  required  a  corrective ;  that  the 
Christian  world,  owing  to  the  above  pernicious  doctrine, 
might  possibly  evince  too  faint  a  relish  for  the  pleasures 
or  too  diminished  an  estimate  for  the  advantages  of 
the  present  life  ;  that,  their  "  treasure  being  in  heaven," 
it  was  not  impossible  but  "  their  heart "  might  be  too 
much  there  also,  —  there,  perhaps,  when  it  was  impera- 
tively demanded  in  the  counting-house,  on  the  hustings, 
at  the  mart  or  the  theatre ;  all  this,  being,  as  I  say,  so 
notoriously  contrary  to  ordinary  opinion  and  experience, 
seemed  to  me  so  exquisitely  ludicrous  that  I  could 
hardly  help  bursting  into  laughter,  especially  as  I 
imagined  one  of  our  nev%r  "  spiritual "  doctors  ascending 


SOME    CURIOUS    PARADOXES.  59 

the  pulpit  under  the  new  dispensation,  to  indulge  in 
exhortations  to  a  keener  chase  of  this  world,  and  "  the 
things  of  this  world."  I  found  afterwards  similar 
thoughts  were  passing  through  Harrington^s  mind,  ren- 
dered more  whimsical  by  the  recollection  that,  during 
college  life,  his  friend  (though  very  far  from  vicious) 
had  certainly  never  seemed  to  take  any  deficient  interest 
in  the  affairs  of  this  world,  nor  to  exhibit  any  predilec- 
tion for  an  ascetic  life.  Indeed,  he  acknowledged  that, 
after  all,  he  could  not  sympathize  with  Mr.  Newman's 
extreme  sensitiveness  in  relation  to  this  matter.* 

Harrington  answered,  with  proper  gravity,  "  I  am 
glad  to  find  that  any  undue  austerity  of  character  —  of 
which,  however,  I  assure  you,  upon  my  honor,  I  never 
suspected  you  —  has  received  so  invaluable  a  corrective. 
Still,  it  is  obvious  to  remark,  that,  if  the  chief  effect 
of  this  new  style  of  religion  is  to  abate  any  excessive 
antipathy  which  the  New  Testament  has  fostered,  or 
was  likely  to  foster,  to  the  attractions  of  this  life,  it  has, 
I  conceive,  an  easy  task.  I  never  remarked  in  Chris- 
tians any  superfluous  contempt  of  the  present  world  or 
its  pleasures ;  any  indication  of  an  extravagant  admira- 
tion of  any  sublimer  objects  of  pursuit.  In  truth,  the 
tendencies  of  human  nature,  as  it  appears  to  me,  are  so 
strong  the  other  way,  that  the  strongest  language  of  a 
hundred  New  Testaments  would  be  little  heeded.  Your 
corrective  is  something  like  that  of  a  moralist  who 
should  seriously  prove  that  man  was  to  take  care  that 
his  appetites  and  passions  are  duly  indulged,  of  which 
ethical  writers  have,  alas !  condescended  to  say  but  little, 
supposing  that  every  body  would  feel  that  there  was  no 
need  of  solemn  counsels  on  such  a  subject.  It  reminds 
one  of  the  Christmas  sermon  mentioned  in  the  *  Sketch 

*  See  Phases,  p.  205. 


60  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

Book,'  preached  by  the  good  little  antiquarian  parson 
who  elaborately  proved,  and  pathetically  enforced  on  his 
reluctant  auditors,  the  duty  of  a  proper  devotion  to  the 
festivities  of  the  season.  However,  every  one  must  like 
the  complexion  of  your  theology,  though  its  counsels  on 
this  subject  do  not  seem  to  me  of  urgent  necessity." 

"  Perhaps,"  said  Fell  owes,  "  I  ought  rather  to  have 
said  that  Christians  inculcate,  theoretically^  a  contempt 
of  the  present  life,  while,  practically^  they  enter  as 
keenly  into  its  pleasures  as  the  *  worldling,'  "  —  uttering 
the  last  word  with  an  approach  to  a  sneer. 

"  You  may  be  sure,"  said  Harrington,  "  /  shall  leave 
the  Christian  to  defend  himself ;  but  if  the  case  be  as 
yoti  now  represent  it,  your  new  religious  system  seems 
to  be  superfluous  as  a  corrective  of  any  tendencies  to 
Christian  asceticism,  and  can  do  nothing  for  us.  It  ap- 
pears that  your  Reformation  was  begun  and  ended  be- 
fore your  *  spiritual '  Luthers  appeared." 

"  Not  so,"  said  Fellowes,  "  for  the  eagerness  wdth 
which  the  Christian  pursues  the  world,  while  he  con- 
demns it,  is,  as  Mr.  Greg  has  recently  insisted,  *a 
gigantic  hypocrisy  ' :  it  is  founded  on  a  lie.  They  say 
this  world  is  not  to  be  the  great  object  for  which  we 
are  to  live  and  in  which  we  are  to  find  our  happiness  ; 
we  say  it  is :  they  say  it  is  not  our  <  country '  or  our 
*  home ' ;  we  say  it  is :  they  say  that  we  are  to  live 
supremely  for  the  future,  and  in  it ;  we  say,  for  and  in 
the  present ;  that  if  there  be  a  future  world  (of  which 
many  doubt,  and  I,  for  one,  have  not  been  able  to 
make  up  my  mind),  we  are  to  hope  to  be  happy  there, 
but  that  the  main  business  is  to  secure  our  happiness 
here,  —  to  embellish,  adorn,  and  enjoy  this  our  only  cer- 
tain dwelling-place,  —  and,  in  fact,  to  live  supremely  for 
the  present.     Such  is  the  constitution  of  human  nature." 

"  I  shall  not  be  at  the  trouble,"  replied  Harrington, 


SOME    CURIOUS    PARADOXES.  61 

"to  defend  the  inconsistencies  of  the  Christian;  but 
your  system,  I  fear,  is  essentially  a  brutal  theology, 
and,  I  am  certain,  a  false  philosophy.  All  the  analogies 
of  our  nature  cry  out  against  it.  Why,  even  with  regard 
to  the  'present,^  as  you  call  this  life,  man  is  perpetually 
living/or  and  in  the  future.  This  'present'  (minute  as 
it  is)  is  itself  broken  up  into  man?/  futures,  and  it  is 
these  which  man  truly  lives  for,  when  he  is  not  a  beast ; 
•ind  not  for  the  passing  hour.  It  is  not  to-day,  it  is 
always  to-morrow,  on  which  his  eye  is  fixed ;  and  his 
ever-repining  nature  perpetually  confesses  its  impatient 
want  of  something  (it  knows  not  what)  to  come.  The 
child  lives  for  his  youth,  and  the  youth  is  discontented 
till  he  is  a  man ;  every  attainment  and  every  possession 
palls  as  soon  as  it  is  reached,  and  we  still  sigh  for  some- 
thing that  we  have  not.  It  is  simply  in  analogy  with 
all  this  that  the  Christian  and  every  other  religion  says 
(absurdly,  if  you  will,  but  certainly  with  a  deeper  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature  than  you),  that,  as  every  little 
present  has  its  little  future  for  which  we  live,  so  the  whole 
present  of  this  life  has  its  great  future,  which  must,  all 
the  way  through,  be  made  the  supreme  object  of  fore- 
thought and  solicitude ;  just  as  we  should  despise  any 
man  who,  for  a  moment's  gratification  to-day,  perilled 
the  happiness  of  the  whole  of  to-morrow.  If  Christians 
are  inconsistent  in  this  respect,  that  is  their  affair ;  but  I 
am  sure  their  theory  i^  more  in  accordance  with  the  con- 
stitution of  human  nature  than  yours."  He  might  have 
added,  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  New  Testament  which 
forbids  to  Christians  any  of  the  innocent  pleasures  of 
this  life :  the  Christian  may  lawfully  appropriate  them. 
His  system  does  not  constrain  him  to  hermit-like  aus- 
terity or  Puritanic  grimace.  He  may  enjoy  them,  just 
as  a  wise  man,  who  will  not  sacrifice  any  of  the  interests 
of  next  year  for  a  transient  gratification  of  the  passing 

6 


f 


§2  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

hour,  does  not  deny  himself  any  legitimate  pleasure 
which  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  more  momentous 
interest.  The  pilgrim  drinks  and  rests  at  the  fountain, 
though  he  does  not  dream  of  setting  up  his  tent  there. 

"  Nay,"  said  Fellowes,  "  but  think  again  of  the  *  gigan- 
tic lie  '  of  making  the  future  world  the  supreme  object, 
and  yet  living  wholly  for  this." 

"  If  that  be  the  case,"  said  I,  joining  in  their  talk, 
"  there  is  no  doubt  a  '  gigantic  lie '  somewhere ;  but  the 
question  is.  Who  tells  it?  It  does  not  follow  that  it  is 
Christianity.  You  may  see  every  day  men  perilling, 
nay,  losing,  some  important  advantages  by  loitering 
away  the  very  hour  which  is  to  secure  them,  —  in  read- 
ing a  novel,  enjoying  a  social  hour,  lying  in  bed,  and 
what  not.  You  do  not  conclude  that  the  man's  estimate 
of  the  future  —  his  philosophy  of  that — is  any  the  more 
questionable  for  this  folly  ?  The  ruthless  future  comes 
and  makes  his  heart  ache ;  and  so  may  it  be  with  Chris- 
tianity for  aught  any  such  considerations  imply.  Your 
argument  only  proves  that,  if  Christianity  be  true,  man 
is  an  inconsistent  fool ;  and,  in  my  judgment,  that  was 
proved  long  before  Christianity  was  born  or  thought  of." 

"  Your  theology,"  cried  Harrington,  "  fairly  carried 
out,  would  lead  most  men  to  the  *  Epicurean  sty,'  which, 
sceptic  as  I  am,  I  loathe  the  thought  of;~it  almost 
deserves  the  rebuke  which  Johnson  gave  the  man  who 
pleaded  for  a  '  natural  and  savage  condition,'  as  he 
called  it.  '  Sir,'  said  the  Doctor,  *  it  is  a  brutal  doc- 
trine ;  a  bull  might  as  well  say,  I  have  this  grass  and 
this  cow, —  and  what  can  a  creature  want  more  ? '  No, 
I  am  sure  that  the  Christian  or  any  other  religionist  — 
inconsistent  though  he  is  —  appeals  in  this  point  to 
deeper  analogies  of  our  nature  than  you." 
r'  "  But  the  fact  is,"  said  Fellowes,  "  that  the  Christian 
depreciates  the  innocent  pleasures  of  this  life." 


SOME    CURIOUS    PARADOXES.  63 

*  And  my  uncle  would  say  it  is  his  own  fault  then." 

"  Nay,  but  hear  me.  I  conceive  that  nothing  could 
be  more  natural,  as  several  of  our  writers  have  re- 
marked, than  the  injunctions  of  the  Apostles  to  the 
primitive  Christians  to  despise  the  world,  and  so  forth, 
under  the  impression  of  that  great  mistake  they  had 
fallen  into,  that  the  world  was  about  to  tuinble  to 
pieces,  and " 

"  I  am  not  sure,"  said  Harrington,  who  seemed  re- 
solved to  evince  a  scepticism  provoking  enough,  *  that 
they  did  make  the  mistake,  on  your  principles.  For  I 
know  not,  nor  you  either,  whether  the  expressions  on 
which  you  found  the  supposition  be  not  amongst  the 
voluminous  additions  with  which  you  are  pleased  to 
suppose  their  simple  and  genuine  '  utterances '  have  been 
corrupted.  But,  leaving  you  to  discuss  that  point,  if 
you  like,  with  my  uncle  here,  I  must  deny  that  the 
mistake^  supposing  it  one,  makes  any  thing  in  relation 
to  our  present  discussion.  You  say  that  the  Apostles 
did  ivell  and  naturally  to  inculcate  a  light  grasp  on  the 
world,  on  the  supposition  that  it  was  about  to  pass 
away ;  and  therefore,  I  suppose,  you  (under  a  similar 
impression)  would  do  the  same ;  if  so,  ought  you  not 
still  to  do  it  ?  for  can  it  make  any  conceivable  diiference 
to  the  wisdom  or  the  folly  of  such  exhortations,  whether 
the  world  passes  away  from  us,  or  we  pass  away  from 
the  world  ?  —  whether  it  *  tumbles  to  pieces,'  as  you  ex- 
press it,  or  (which  is  too  certain)  we  tumble  to  pieces  ? 
I  think,  therefore,  your  same  comfortable  theology  can- 
not be  justified,  if  yon  justify  the  conduct  of  the  Apos- 
tles under  their  impression,  let  it  be  ever  so  erroneous. 
You  ought  to  feel  the  same  sentiments ;  you  being,  to  all 
practical  purposes,  under  a  precisely  similar  impression." 

Fellowes  looked  as  if  he  were  a  little  vexed  at  having 
thus  hypothetically  justified  the  conduct  of  the  Apostles. 


64  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

But  he  was  not  without  his  answer,  adopted  from-  Mr. 
Newman.  "  Yes,"  said  he,  "  practically^  no  doubt,  death 
is  the  end  of  the  world  to  us  ;  but  to  urge  this,  —  what 
is  it,  as  Mr.  Newman  says,  '  but  abominable  selfishness 
preached  as  religion '  ?  If  we  are  to  labor  for  remote 
posterity,  will  not  our  work  remain,  though  we  die  ? 
But  if  the  world  is  to  perish  in  fifty  years,  or  a  century, 
what  then  ?  " 

"  Far  be  it  from  me,"  said  Harrington,  "  to  compete 
with  your  spiritual  philanthropy,  which,  doubtless,  will 
not  be  content  to  work  unless  under  a  lease  of  a  mil- 
lion of  years.  I  suppose  even  if  you  thought  the  world 
would  come  to  an  end  in  a  hundred  years,  (and  really 
I  have  no  proof  that  the  Apostles  thought  it  would 
end  sooner, — they  spoke  of  their  death  as  coming 
first,)  you  would  not  think  it  worth  while  to  do  any 
thing ;  the  welfare  of  your  children  and  grandchildren 
would  appear  far  too  paltry  for  so  ambitious  a  benevo- 
lence as  yours  !  Most  people  —  Christians,  sceptics,  or 
otherwise  —  are  contented  to  aim  at  the  welfare  of  this 
generation  and  the  next,  and  think  as  little  of  their 
great-great-grandchildren  as  of  their  great-great-grand- 
fathers. That  little  vista  terminates  the  projects  of 
their  philanthropy,  just  as  their  own  death  is  to  them 
the  end  of  the  world.  Meantime,  it  appears,  you  would 
be  tempted  to  neglect  the  practical  little  you  could  do, 
because  you  could  not  do  more  than  for  a  century  or  so  I 
Pray,  which  is  really  the  more  benevolent  ?  Moreover, 
as  not  one  man  in  a  million  can  or  does  think  of  bene- 
fiting any  but  his  immediate  generation,  you  ought, 
upon  your  principles,  still  to  sit  down  inactive ;  for  they 
for  whom  alone  you  can  work  will  soon  pass  away  too. 
But  the  whole  argument  is  too  refined.  No  mortal  — 
excep ;  you  or  Mr.  Newman  —  would  be  wrought  upon 
by  it.'^ 


SOME    CURIOUS    PARADOXES. 


6& 


"  Well,  but,"  said  Fellowes,  "  as  to  the  mistake  of 
the  Apostles,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  that;  it  really 
appears  to  me  grossly  disingenuous  "  —  looking  towards 
me  —  "  to  deny  it.  What  do  you  say,  Mr.  B.  ?  "  re- 
peating his  assertion  that  the  Apostles  clearly  thought 
that  the  end  of  the  world  was  close  at  hand,  —  in  fact, 
that  it  would  happen  in  their  generation. 

I  told  him  I  was  afraid  I  must  run  the  risk  of  ap- 
pearing in  his  eyes  "  grossly  disingenuous  " ;  not  that  I 
deemed  it  necessary  to  maintain  that  the  Apostles  had 
any  idea  of  the  period  of  time  which  was  to  intervene 
between  the  first  promulgation  of  the  Gospel  and  the 
consummation  of  all  things ;  for  when  I  found  our  Lord 
himself  acknowledging,  "  Of  that  day  and  that  hour 
knoweth  no  man,  not  even  the  angels,  nor  even  the 
Son,  but  the  Father  only,"  I  could  not  wonder  that  the 
Apostles  were  left  to  mere  conjectures  on  a  subject 
which  was  then  veiled  even  from  his  humanity.  I  said 
I  even  thought  it  probable  that  their  vivid  feeling  an- 
ticipated the  day,  —  that  the  interval  between,  so  to 
speak,  was  "  foreshortened  "  to  them ;  but  that  I  could 
not  see  how  the  question  of  their  inspiration,  or  the 
truth  of  Christianity,  was  at  all  involved  in  their  igno- 
rance on  that  point ;  unless,  indeed,  it  could  be  proved 
that  they  had  positively  stated  that  the  predicted  event 
would  take  place  in  their  own  time.  This,  I  acknowl- 
edged, I  could  not  find,  —  but  much  to  the  contrary ; 
that  the  charge,  indeed,  had  been  so  often  repeated  by 
the  infidel  school,  that  they  had  persuaded  themselves 
of  it,  and  spoke  of  it  as  if  it  were  a  decided  point ; 
but  that  as  long  as  the  second  Epistle  of  St.  Paul  to 
the  Thessalonians  remained,  in  which  the  Apostle  ex- 
pressly corrected  misapprehensions  similar  to  those 
which  infidelity  still  professes  to  found  on  the  first 
Epistle,  I  should  continue  to  doubt  whether  Paul  did 
6* 


0  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

not  know  his  own  mind  better  than  his  modern  com- 
mentators. I  told  him  that  we  do  not  hear  that  the 
Thessalonians  persisted  in  believing  that  they  had  right- 
ly interpreted  Paul's  words  after  he  had  himself  dis- 
owned the  meaning  they  had  put  upon  them  ;  that  this 
was  a  degree  of  assurance  only  possible  to  modern 
critics;  and  that  I  was  surprised  that  Mr.  Newman 
should  have  quietly  assumed  the  alleged  "  mistake " 
in  his  "  Phases  of  Faith,"  without  thinking  it  worth 
while  even  to  state  the  opposing  argument  from  the 
Second  Epistle.  I  added,  that  the  repeated  references 
which  both  Paul  and  Peter  make  to  their  own  death, 
as  certain  to  take  place  before  the  dissolution  of  all 
things,  sufficiently  prove  that,  however  their  view  of 
i  the  future  might  be  contracted,  they  did  not  expect  the 
world  to  end  in  their  day,  and  ought  to  have  silenced 
the  perverse  criticism  on  the  popular  expression, "  Then 
we  which  are  alive  and  remain,"  &c. 

Having  briefly  stated  my  opinion,  Fellowes  said  he 
saw  that  he  and  I  were  as  little  likely  to  agree  as  Har- 
rington and  he.  "  However,"  he  continued,  turning  to 
his  friend,  "  to  go  back  to  the  point  from  which  we 
digressed.  My  new  faith,  at  all  events,  makes  me  hap- 
py, which  it  is  plain  —  too  plain — that  your  want  of 
all  faith  does  not  make  you." 

"  Whether  it  is  your  new  faith,"  said  the  other, 
"makes  you  happy,  —  whether  you  were  not  as  happy 
in  your  old  faith,  —  whether  there  are  not  thousands  of 
Christians  who  are  as  happy  with  their  faith  (they  would 
say  much  happier,  and  I  should  say  so  too,  if  they  not 
only  say  they  believe  it,  but  believe  it  and  practise  it),  I 
will  not  inquire ;  that  my  want  of  faith  does  not  make 
me  happy  is  a  sad  truth,  which  I  do  not  think  it  worth 
while  to  deny ;  though  I  must  confess  that  there  have 
been  many  who  have  shared  in  my  scepticism  who  have 


,^'  PROBLEMa.  "    r~^  W 

not  shared  in  my  misery.  It  is  just  because  they  have 
not  realized  what  they  did  not  believe ;  even  as  there 
are  thousands  of  soi-disant  Christians  who  do  not  real- 
ize what  they  say  they  do  believe  ;  neither  the  one  nor 
the  other  are  the  happier  or  the  more  sorrowful  for  their 
pretended  tenets.  This  is  simply  because  they  stand 
in  no  need  of  the  admirable  correctives  supplied  by 
your  new  theology  ;  the  present  engrosses  their  solici- 
tudes and  affections ;  and  the  mere  talk  of  the  belief  or 
the  no-belief  suffices  to  hush  and  tranquillize  the  heart 
in  relation  to  those  most  momentous  subjects,  on  which 
if  man  has  not  thought  at  all,  he  is  a  fool  indeed.  In 
either  case  the  '  future '  and  the  *  eternal '  seem  so  far 
removed  that  they  seem  to  be  an  '  eternal  futurity.' 
Such  parties  look  at  that  distant  future  much  as  chil- 
dren at  the  stars ;  it  is  a  point,  an  invisible  speck,  in 
the  firmament.  A  sixpence  held  near  the  eye  appears 
larger ;  and  brought  sufficiently  close  shuts  out  the  uni- 
verse altogether.  But  let  us  also  forget  the  future,  and 
have  a  little  talk  of  the  past." 

They  resumed  their  conversation  on  subjects  indif- 
ferent as  far  as  this  journal  is  concerned,  and  I  bade 
them  good  night. 


July  5.  We  were  sitting  in  the  library  after  break- 
fast. The  two  college  friends  soon  fell  into  chat,  while 
I  sat  writing  at  my  separate  table,  but  ready  to  resume 
my  capacity  of  reporter,  should  any  polemical  discus- 
sion take  place.  I  soon  had  plenty  of  employment. 
After  about  an  hour  I  heard  Harrington  say :  — 

"  But  I  shall  be  happy,  I  assure  you,  to  fill  the  void 
whenever  you  will  give  me  something  solid  wherewith 
to  fill  it." 

It  was  impossible  that  even  a  believer  in  the  doc- 


68  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

trine  that  no  "  creed  "  can  be  taught,  and  that  an  "  ex- 
ternal revelation  "  is  an  impossibility,  could  be  insen- 
sible to  the  charm  of  making  a  proselyte. 

"  What  is  it,"  said  Fellowes,  "  that  you  want  ?  " 
"  What  do  I  want  ?  I  want  certainty,  or  quasi- 
certainty,  on  those  points  on  which  if  a  man  is  content 
to  remain  uncertain,  he  is  a  fool  or  a  brute ;  points  re- 
specting which  it  is  no  more  possible  for  a  genuine 
sceptic  —  for  I  speak  not  of  the  thoughtless  lover  of 
paradox,  or  the  queer  dogmatist  who  resolves  that 
nothing  is  true  —  to  still  the  soul,  than  nakedness  can 
render  us  insensible  to  cold ;  or  hunger  cure  its  own 
pangs  by  saying,  *  Go  to,  now ;  I  have  nothing  to  eat.' 
The  generality  of  mankind  are  insensible  to  these  ques- 
tions only  because  they  imagine,  even  though  it  may 
be  falsely,  that  they  possess  certainty.  They  are  prob- 
lems which,  whenever  there  is  elevation  of  mind  enough 
to  appreciate  their  importance,  engage  the  real  doubter 
in  a  life-long  conflict;  and  to  attempt  to  appease  the 
restlessness  of  such  a  mind  by  the  old  prescriptions,  — 
the  old  quackish  Epicurean  nostrum  of  'Carpe  diem,- 

—  *  Let  us  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry,  for  to-morrow  we 
die,'  —  *  We  do  not  know  what  the  morrow  may  bring,' 

—  is  like  attempting  to  call  back  the  soul  from  a  mortal 
syncope  by  applying  to  the  nostrils  a  drop  of  eau  de 
Cologne,  *  Enjoy  to-day,  we  do  not  know  what  the 
morrow  will  bring!'  Why,  that  is  the  very  thought 
which  poisons  to-day.  No,  a  soul  of  any  worth  cannot 
but  feel  an  intense  wish  for  the  solution  of  its  doubts, 
even  while  it  doubts  whether  they  can  be  solved." 

">  Carps  diem '  certainly  would  not  be  my  sole  pre- 
scription," said  Fellowes  ;  "  you  have  not  told  me  yet 
what  you  want." 

"  No,  but  I  will.  The  questions  on  which  I  want 
certainty  are  indeed   questions  about  which  philoso- 


PROBLEMS. 


m 


phers  will  often  argue  just  to  display  their  vanity,  as 
human  vanity  will  argue  about  any  thing;  but  they 
are  no  sooner  felt  in  their  true  grandeur,  than  they 
absorb  the  soul." 

"  Still,  what  is  it  you  want  ?  " 

"I  want  to  know  —  whence  I  came;  whither  lam 
going.  Whether  there  be,  in  truth,  as  so  many  say 
there  is,  a  God,  —  a  tremendous  Personality,  to  whose 
infinite  faculties  the  ^  great '  and  the  '  little '  (as  ive  call 
them)  equally  vanish,  —  whose  universal  presence  fills 
all  space,  in  any  point  of  which  he  exists  entire  in  the 
amplitude  of  all  his  infinite  attributes,  —  whose  uni- 
versal government  extends  even  to  me,  and  my  fellow- 
atoms,  called  men,  —  within  whose  sheltering  embrace 
even  /  am  not  too  mean  for  protection ;  —  whether,  if 
there  be  such  a  being,  he  is  truly  infinite ;  or  whether 
this  vast  machine  of  the  universe  may  not  have  de- 
veloped tendencies  or  involved  consequences  which 
eluded  his  forethought,  and  are  now  beyond  even  his 
control;  —  whether,  for  this  reason,  or  for  some  other 
necessity,  such  infinite  sorrows  have  been  permitted  to 
invade  it ;  —  whether,  above  all.  He  be  propitious  or 
offended  with  a  world  in  which  I  feel  too  surely,  in  the 
profound  and  various  misery  of  man,  that  his  aspects 
are  not  <2/Z  benignant ;  —  how,  if  he  be  offended,  he  is 
to  be  reconciled ;  —  whether  he  is  at  all  accessible,  or 
one  to  whom  the  pleasures  and  the  sufferings  of  the 
poor  child  of  dust  are  equally  subjects  of  horrible  in- 
difference;—  whether,  if  such  Omnipotent  Being  cre- 
ated the  world,  he  has  now  abandoned  it  to  be  the 
sport  of  chance,  and  I  am  thus  an  orphan  in  the  uni- 
verse ;  —  whether  this  *  universal  frame '  be  indeed 
without  a  mind,  and  we  are,  in  fact,  the  only  forms  of 
conscious  existence;  —  whether,  as  the  Pantheist  de- 
clares, the  universe  itself  be  God, —  ever  making,  never 


70  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

made,  —  the  product  of  an  evolution  of  an  infinite  se- 
ries of  *  antecedents '  and  'consequents';  a  God  of 
which  —  for  I  cannot  say  of  whom  —  you  and  I  are  bits; 
perishable  fragments  of  a  Divinity,  itself  imperishable 
only  because  there  will  always  be  hits  of  it  to  perish  ; 
—  whether,  even  upon  some  such  supposition,  this  con- 
scious existence  of  ours  is  to  be  rejiewed;  and,  if  so, 
under  what  conditions;  or  whether,  when  we  have 
finished  our  little  day,  no  other  dawn  is  to  break  upon 
our  night ;  —  whether  the  vale^  vale  in  eternum  vale^  is 
really  the  proper  utterance  of  a  breaking  heart  as  it 
closes  the  sepulchre  on  the  object  of  its  love." 

His  voice  faltered ;  and  I  was  confirmed  in  my  sus- 
picions, that  some  deep,  secret  sorrow  had  had  to  do 
with  his  morbid  state  of  mind.  In  a  moment,  he  re- 
sumed:— 

"  These  are  the  questions,  and  others  like  them, 
which  I  have  vainly  toiled  to  solve.  I,  like  you,  have 
been  rudely  driven  out  of  my  old  beliefs;  my  early 
Christian  faith  has  given  way  to  doubt ;  the  little  hut 
on  the  mountain-side,  in  which  I  thought  to  dwell  in 
pastoral  simplicity,  has  been  scattered  to  the  tempest, 
and  I  am  turned  out  to  the  blast  without  a  shelter.  I 
have  wandered  long  and  far,  but  have  not  found  that 
rest  which  you  tell  me  is  to  be  obtained.  As  I  exam- 
ine all  other  theories,  they  seem,  to  me,  pressed  by  at 
least  equal  difficulties  with  that  I  have  abandoned.  I 
cannot  make  myself  contented^  as  others  do,  with  be- 
lieving nothing,  and  yet  I  have  nothing  to  believe ;  I 
have  wrestled  long  and  hard  with  my  Titan  foes, — 
but  not  successfully.  I  have  turned  to  every  quarter 
of  the  universe  in  vain;  I  have  interrogated  my  own 
soul,  but  it  answers  not;  I  have  gazed  upon  nature, 
but  its  many  voices  speak  no  articulate  language  to 
me ;  and,  more  especially,  when  I  gaze  upon  the  bright 


PROBLEMS.  71 

page  of  the  midnight  heavens,  those  orbs  gleam  upon 
me  with  so  cold  a  light,  and  amidst  so  portentous  a 
silence,  that  I  am,  with  Pascal,  terrified  at  the  -specta- 
cle of  the  infinite  solitudes,  — '  de  ces  espaces  infinis.^ 
I  declare  to  you  that  I  know  nothing  in  nature  so 
beautiful  or  so  terrible  as  those  mute  oracles." 

"  They  are  indeed  mute,"  said  Fellowes ;  "  but  not 
so  that  still  voice  which  whispers  its  oracles  within. 
You  have  but  to  look  inwards,  and  you  may  see,  by 
the  direct  gaze  of  J  the  spiritual  faculty,'  bright  and 
clear,  those  great  *  intuitions '  of  spiritual  truth  which 
the  gauds  and  splendors  of  the  external  universe  can 
no  more  illustrate  than  can  the  illuminated  characters 
of  an  old  missal; — just  as  little  can  any  ftoo/c  teach 
these  truths.  You  have  truly  said,  the  stars  will  shed 
no  light  upon  them ;  they,  on  the  contrary,  must  illu- 
mine the  stars ;  I  mean,  they  must  themselves  be  seen 
before  the  outward  universe  can  assume  intelligible 
meaning ;  must  utter  their  voices  before  any  of  the 
phenomena  of  the  external  world  can  have  any  real 
significance ! " 

"  How  different,"  said  Harrington,  "  are  the  expe- 
riences of  mankind!  You  well  described  those  inter- 
nal oracles,  if  there  are  indeed  such,  as  whispering  their 
responses ;  if  they  utter  them  at  all,  it  is  to  me  in  a 
whisper  so  low  that  I  cannot  distinctly  catch  them. 
Strange  paradoxes !  the  soul  speaks,  arid  the  soul  lis- 
tens, and  the  soul  cannot  tell  what  the  soul  says.  That 
is,  the  soul  speaks  to  itself,  and  says,  'What  have  I 
said  ? '  I  assure  you  that  the  ear  of  my  soul  (if  I  may 
so  speak)  has  often  ached  with  intense  effort  to  listen 
to  what  the  tongue  of  the  soul  mutters,  and  yet  I  can- 
not catch  it.  You  tell  me  I  have  only  to  look  down 
into  the  depths  within.  Well,  I  have.  I  assure  you 
that  I  have  endeavoured  to  do  so,  as  far  as  I  know, 


72  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

honestly ;  and,  so  far  from  seeing  clear  and  bright  those 
splendors  which  you  speak  of,  I  can  only  see  as  in  the 
depths  of  a  cavern  occasional  gleams  of  a  tremulous, 
flickering  light,  which  distinctly  shows  me  nothing,  and 
which,  I  half  suspect,  comes  from  without  into  these 
recesses :  or  I  feel  as  if  gazing  down  an  abyss,  the 
bottom  of  which  is  filled  with  water ;  the  light  —  and 
that,  too,  for  aught  I  know,  reflected  from  without  — 
only  throws  a  transient  glimpse  of  my  own  image  on 
the  surface  of  the  dark  water  ;  that  image  itself  broken 
and  renewed  as  the  water  boils  up  from  its  hidden 
fountain.  Or,  if  I  may  recur  to  your  own  metaphor 
instead  of  hearing  in  those  deep  caverns  the  clear  ora- 
cles of  which  you  boast,  I  can  distinguish  nothing  but 
a  scarcely  audible  murmur ;  I  know  not  whether  it  be 
any  thing  more  than  -the  lingering  echoes  of  what  I 
heard  in  my  childhood:  or,  rather,  my  soul  speaks  to 
me  on  all  these  momentous  subjects  much  as  one  in 
sleep  often  does  ;  the  lips  move,  but  no  sound  issues 
from  them.  I  retire  from  these  attempts,  as  those  of 
old  from  the  cave  of  Trophonius,  pale,  terrified,  and 
dejected.  In  short,"  he  continued,  "  I  feel  much  as 
Descartes  says-  he  did  when  he  had  denuded  himself  of 
all  his  traditional  opinions,  —  a  condition  so  graphically 
described  in  the  beginning  of  the  second  of  his  Medi- 
tations. There  is  this  difference,  however,  and  in  his 
favor:  that  he  imposed  upon  himself  only  a  self-in- 
flicted doubt,  which  he  could  terminate  at  any  time. 
His  opinions  had  been  but  temporarily  laid  aside. 
They  were  on  the  shelf,  close  at  hand,  ready  to  be 
taken  down  again  when  wanted.  But  enough  of  this. 
You  will,  I  know,  aid  me,  if  you  can.  And,  now  I 
think  of  it,  do  so  on  one  point,  by  justifying  your  as- 
sertion, made  the  other  evening,  as  to  Mr.  Newman's 
dilemma  of  the  '  impossibility  of  a  book-revelation.' " 


BOOK-REVELATION.  73 

*•  1  said,  I  think,  that  Mr.  Newman  has  satisfactorily 
proved  to  me  that  a  book-revelation  of  moral  and  spir-  j 
itual  truth  is  impossible ;   that  God  reveals  himself  to  J 
us  within^  and  not  from  withoutP 

"  As  to  what  is  impossible,"  said  the  other,  "  I  fancy- 
it  would  be  difficult  to  get  one  thoroughly  convinced 
of  his  ignorance  and  feebleness  to  be  other  than  very 
cautious  how  he  used  the  word.  Perhaps,  however, 
Mr.  Newman  may  be  more  readily  excused  than  most 
men  for  the  strength  with  which  he  pronounces  his 
opinions ;  for,  as  he  has  passed  through  an  infinity  of 
experiences,  it  may  have  given  him  'insight'  into  many 
absurdities  which,  to  the  generality  of  mankind,  do  not 
appear  such.  I  think  if  /  had  believed  half  so  many 
things,  I  should  have  lost  all  confidence  in  myself. 
What  a  strong  mind,  or  what  buoyant  faith,  he  must  . 
have ! " 

"Both,  —  both,"  said  Fellowes. 

"  Well,  be  it  so.  But  let  us,  as  you  promised  yes- 
terday, examine  this  very  point."  This  led  on  to  a 
dialogue  in  which  it  was  distinctly  proved  that 

That    may    be    possible    with    Man,   which    is  . 
impossible   with   god. 

"  Mr.  Newman  affirms,  you  say,"  said  Harrington, 
"that  in  his  judgment  every  book-' revelation '  is  an 
absurdity  and  a  contradiction ;  or,  in  the  words  quoted 
by  you,  '  impossible.'  " 

"  Yes,  —  of  '  moral  and  spiritual  truth.'  " 

"  And  of  any  other  truth  —  as  of  historical  truth  — 
you  say  such  revelation  is  unnecessary  ?  " 

«  Yes." 

"  Moreover,  as  you  and  Mr.  Newman  affirm,  the  bulk 


74  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

of  mankind  are  not  competent  to  investigate  the  claims 
of  such  an  historic  revelation  ?  " 

"  Certainly. " 

"  And,  therefore,  it  is  impossible  in  fact^  if  not  per  se, 
unless  God  is  to  be  supposed  doing  something  both  un- 
necessary and  futile." 

"  I  think  so,  of  course,"  said  Fellowes. 

t^  So  that  all  book-revelation  is  impossible." 
« I  affirm  it." 

"  Very  well,  —  I  do  not  dispute  it.  There  still  remain 
one  or  two  difficulties  on  which  I  should  like  to  have 
your  judgment  towards  forming  an  opinion :  and  they 
are  on  the  very  threshold  of  the  subject.  And,  first,  I 
suppose  you  do  not  mean  to  restrict  your  term  of  a 
*  book-revelation '  to  that  only  which  is  literally  con- 
signed to  a  book  in  our  modern  sense.  You  mean  an 
external  revelation  ?  " 

«  Certainly." 

"  If,  for  example,  you  could  recover  a  genuine  manu- 
script of  Isaiah  or  Paul,  you  would  not  think  it  entitled 
to  any  more  respect,  as  authority,  than  a  modern  trans- 
lation in  a  printed  book,  —  though  it  might  be  free  from 
some  errors  ?  " 

"  I  should  not" 

"  You  w^ould  not  allow  that  parchment,  however  an- 
cient, has  any  advantage  in  this  respect  over  paper,  how- 
ever modern  ?  " 

«  Certainly  not." 

"  Nor  Hebrew  or  Greek  over  English  or  German  ?  " 

«  No." 

"  All  such  matters  are  in  very  deed  but  *  leather  and 
prunella '  ?  " 

"  Nothing  more." 

"  And  for  a  similar  reason,  surely,  you  would  reject 
at  once  the  oral  teaching  of  any  such  man  as  Paul  or 


BOOK-REVELATION.  K 

Matthew,  or  any  body  else,  if  he  professed  that  what 
he  said  was  dictated  by  divine  inspiration,  concurrently 
or  not  with  the  use  of  his  own  faculties  ?  You  would 
repudiate  at  once  his  claims,  however  authenticated,  to 
be  your  infallible  guide ;  to  tell  you  what  you  are  to 
believe,  and  how  you  are  to  act?  For  surely  you  will 
not  pretend  that  there  is  any  difference  between  state- 
ments which  are  merely  expressed  by  the  living  voice, 
and  those  same  statements  as  consigned  to  a  book; 
except  that,  if  any  difference  be  supposed  at  all,  one 
would,  for  some  reasons,  rather  have  them  in  the  last 
shape  than  in  the  first." 

"  Of  course  there  is  no  difference:  to  object  to  a  book- 
revelation  and  grant  a  *  lip-revelation '  from  God,  or  to  \ 
deny  that  lip-revelation  (when  it  is  made  permanent  / 
and  diffusible)  the  authority  it  had  when  first  given,  ? 
would  be  a  childish  hatred  of  a  book  indeed,"  answered 
Fellowes. 

"  I  perfectly  agree  with  you,"  replied  Harrington. 
"  I  understand  you,  then,  to  deny  that  any  revelation 
professedly  given  to  you  or  to  me  does,  or  ever  can, 
come  to  us  through  any  external  channel,  printed  or  on 
parchment,  ancient  or  modern,  by  the  living  voice  or  in 
a  written  character;  and  that  this  is  a  proper  transla- 
tion, in  a  generalized  form,  of  the  phrase  *  a  book-reve- 
lation '  ?  " 

"  I  admit  it.  For  surely,  as  already  said,  it  would  be 
truly  ridiculous  to  allow  that  Paul,  if  we  could  but  hear 
his  living  voice,  was  to  be  listened  to  with  implicit 
reverence  as  an  authorized  teacher  of  divine  truth ;  but 
that  his  deliberate  utterances,  recorded  in  a  permanent 
form,  were  to  be  regarded  not  merely  as  less  authorita- 
tive, but  of  no  authority  at  all." 

"  So  that  if  you  saw  Peter  or  Paul  to-morrow,  you 
would  tell  him  the  same  story  ?  " 


76  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  Of  course  I  should,"  replied  Mr.  Fellowes. 

"  And  you  would  of  course  also  reject  any  such  reve- 
lation, coming  from  any  external  source,  even  though 
the  party  proclaiming  it  confirmed  it  by  miracles  ?  For 
I  cannot  see  how,  if  it  be  true  that  an  external  revela- 
tion is  impossible^  and  that  God  always  reveals  himself 
*  within  us '  and  never  *  out  of  us,'  (which  is  the  principle 
affirmed,)  —  I  say  I  cannot  see  how  miracles  can  make 
any  difference  in  the  case." 

"  No,  certainly  not.  But  surely  you  forget  that  mira- 
cles are  impossible  on  my  notion :  for,  as  Mr.  Newman 
says " 

"  Whatever  he  says,  I  suppose  you  will  not  deny  that 
they  are  conceivable ;  and  that  is  all  I  am  thinking  of 
at  present.  Their  impossibility  or  possibility  I  will  not 
dispute  with  you  just  now.  I  am  disposed  to  ag'vee 
with  you ;  only,  as  usual,  I  have  some  doubts,  which  I 
wish  you  would  endeavor  to  solve  ;  but  of  that  another 
time.  Meantime,  jny  good  friend,  be  so  obliging  as  to 
/give  me  an  answer  to  my  question,  —  whether  you 
/would  deem  it  to  be  your  duty  to  reject  any  such 
\  claims  to  authoritative  teaching,  even  if  backed  by  the 
performance  of  miracles  ?  for,  admitting  miracles  never 
.  to  have  occurred,  and  even  that  they  never  will,  you,  I 
think,  would  hesitate  to  affirm  that  you  clearly  perceive 
that  the  very  notion  involves  a  contradiction.  They 
are,  at  least,  imaginable,  and  that  is  sufficient  to  sup- 
ply you  with  an  answer  to  my  question.  I  once  more 
ask  you,  therefore,  whether,  if  such  a  teacher  of  a  book- 
revelation,  in  the  comprehensive  sense  of  these  words  al- 
ready defined,  were  to  authenticate  (as  he  affirmed)  his 
claims  to  reverence  by  any  number,  variety,  or  splen- 
dor of  miracles,  —  undoubted  miracles,  —  you  would 
any  the  more  feel  bound  to  believe  him  ?  " 

"  What !  upon  the  supposition  that  there  was  any 
thing  morall;^  objectionable  in  his  doctrine  ?  " 


BOOK-REVELATION. 


tf 


"  1  will  release  you  on  that  score  too,"  said  Harring- 
ton, in  a  most  accommodating  manner.  "  Morally^  I 
will  assume  there  is  nothing  in  his  doctrine  but  what 
you  approve;  and  as  for  the  rest,  —  to  confirm  which 
I  will  suppose  the  revelation  given,  —  I  will  assume 
nothing  in  it  which  you  could  demonstrate  to  be  false 
or  contradictory;  in  fact,  nothing  more  difficult  to  be 
believed  than  many  undeniable  phenomena  of  the  ex- 
ternal universe,  —  matters,  for  example,  which  you  ac- 
knowledge you  do  not  comprehend,  but  which  may 
possibly  be  true  for  aught  you  can  tell  to  the  contrary." 

"  But  if  the  supposed  revelation  contain  nothing  but 
what,  appealing  thus  to  my  judgment,  I  can  approve, 
where  is  the  necessity  of  a  revelation  at  all  ?  " 

"Pid  I  say,  my  friend,  that  it  was  to  contain  nothing 
but  what  is  referred  to  your  judgment?  nothing  but 
what  you  would  know  and  approve  just  as  well  without 
it  ?  or  even  did  I  concede  that  you  could  have  known 
and  approved  without  it  that  which,  when  it  is  proposed, 
you  do  approve  ?  I  simply  wish  an  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion, whether,  if  a  teacher  of  an  ethical  system  such  as 
you  entirely  approved,  with  some  doctrines  attached, 
incomprehensible  it  may  be,  but  not  demonstratively 
false  or  immoral,  were  to  substantiate  (as  he  affirn^ed) 
his  claims  to  your  belief  by  the  performance  of  miracles, 
you  would  or  would  not  feel  constrained  any  the  more 
to  believe  him  ?  " 

"  But  I  do  not  see  the  use  of  discussing  a  question 
under  circumstances  which  it  is  admitted  never  did  nor 
ever  can  occur  ?  " 

"  You  *  fight  hard,'  as  Socrates  says  to  one  of  his 
antagonists  on  a  similar  occasion;  but  I  really  must 
request  an  answer  to  the  question.  The  case  is  an 
imaginable  one ;  and  you  may  surely  say  how,  upon  the 
principles  you  have  laid  down,  you  think  those  prin 
1* 


78  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

ciples  would  compel  you  to  act  in  the  hypothetical 
case." 

"  Well,  then,  if  I  must  give  an  answer,  I  should  say 

that  upon   the  principles  on  which  Mr.  Newman  has 

argued  the  question, — that  all  revelation,  except  that 

^/\vhich  is  internal,  is  impossible,  —  I  should  not  believe 

the  supposed  envoy's  claims." 

"  Whatever  the  number  or  the  splendor  of  his 
miracles  ?  " 

"  Certainly,"  said  Fellowes,  with  some  hesitation 
however,  and  speaking  slowly. 

"  For  that  does  not  affect  the  principles  we  are  agreed 
upon?" 

"  No,"  —  not  seeming,  however,  perfectly  satisfied. 

"  Very  well,"  resumed  Harrington,  "  that  is  what  I 
call  a  plain  answer  to  a  plain  question.  I  fancy  (wa- 
verer  that  I  am  I)  that  I  should  believe  the  man's  claims. 
I  should  be  even  greatly  tempted  to  think  that  those 
things  which  I  could  not  entirely  see  ought  to  be  con- 
tained in  the  said  revelation,  were  to  be  believed.  But 
all  that  is  doubtless  only  because  I  am  much  weaker 
in  mind  and  will  than  either  Mr.  Newman  or  yourself. 
You  must  pardon  me ;  it  will  in  no  degree  practically 
affect  the  question,  except  on  the  supposition  that  the 
same  infirmity  is  also  a  characteristic  of  man  in  general ; 
that  not  /,  from  my  weakness,  am  an  exception  to  rule  ; 
but  you,  in  your  strength.  But  to  dismiss  that.  You 
have  agreed  that  a  book-revelation  is  impossible,  and 
not  to  be  believed,  even  if  avouched  by  miracles.  Have 
men  in  general  been  disposed  to  believe  a  book-revela- 
tion impossible  ?  for  if  not,  I  am  afraid  they  would  be 
very  liable  to  run  into  error,  if  they  share  in  my  weak- 
nesses. " 

"  Liable  to  run  into  error ! "  said  Fellowes.  "  Man 
?ias  been  perpetually  running  into  this  very  error, 
alway?  and  e  erywhere." 


BOOK-REVELATION.  ^lO 

"  If  it  be  true,  as  you  say,  that  man  has  always 
and  everywhere  manifested  a  remarkable  facility  of 
falling  into  this  error,  many  will  be  tempted  to  think 
that  the  thing  is  not  so  plainly  impossible.  It  seems 
so  strange  that  men  in  general  should  believe  things  to  1 
be  possible  when  they  are  impossible.  However,  you 
admit  it  as  a  too  certain  faclP 

"  I  do,  for  I  cannot  honestly  deny  it ;  but  it  has 
been  because  they  have  confounded  what  is  historical 
or  intellectual  with  moral  and  spiritual  truth." 

"  I  am   afraid  that  will   not  excuse  their  absurdity, 
because,  as  you  admit,  all  book-revelation  is  impossible. 
—  But  further,  supposing  men  to  have  made  this  strange  ^ 
blunder,  it  only  shows  that  the  'moral   and   spiritual'! 
could  not  be  very  clearly  revealed  within;  and  no  wonder] 
men  began  to  think  that  perhaps  it  might  come  to  them/ 
from  without !     When  men  begin  to  mistake  blue  for 
red,  and  square  for  round,  and  chaff  for  wheat,  I  think 
it  is  high  time  that  they  repair  to  a  doctor  outside  them 
to  tell  them  what  is  the  matter  with  their  poor  brains. 
Meantime  an  external  revelation  is  impossible  ?  " 

"  Certainly." 

"  But  men,  however,  have  somehow  perversely  be- 
lieved it  very  possible,  and  that,  in  some  shape  or  other, 
it  has  been  given  ?" 

"  They  have,  I  must  admit." 

"  Unhappy  race !  thus  led  on  by  some  fatality, 
though  not  by  the  constitution  of  their  nature  (rather 
by  some  inevitable  perversion  of  it),  to  believe  as  possi- 
ble that  which  is  so  plainly  impossible.  O  that  it  did 
not  involve  a  contradiction  to  wish  that  God  would 
relieve  them  from  such  universal  and  pernicious  delu- 
sions, by  giving  them  a  book-revelation  to  show  them 
that  all  book-revelations  are  impossible  I  " 

"  That,"  said  Fellowes,  laughing,  "  would  indeed  be 
a  novelty.     Miracles  would  hardly  prove  thaiP 


80  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  I  think  not,"  said  Harrington.  "  But,  as  the  poet 
«5ays,  *  some  god  or  friendly  man  '  may  show  the  way. 
Pray,  permit  me  to  ask,  did  you  always  believe  that  a 
book-revelation  was  impossible  ?  " 

"  How  can  you  ask  the  question  ?  —  you  know  that 

I  was  brought  up,  like  yourself,  in  the  reception  of  the 

Bible  as  the  only  and  infallible  revelation  of  God  to 

mankind." 

'       "  To  w^hat  do  you  owe  your  emancipation  from  this 

grievous  and  universal  error,  which  still  infects,  in  this 

or  some  other  shape,  the  myriads  of  the  human  race  ?  " 

r—"  I  think  principally  to  the  work  of  Mr.  Newman  on 

'  the  <  Soul,'  and  his  «  Phases  of  Faith.'  " 

"  These  have  been  to  you,  then,  at  least,  a  human 
book-revelation  that  a  '  divine  book-revelation  is  impos- 
sible ' ;  a  truth  which  I  acknowledge  you  could  not  have 
received  by  divine  book-revelation,  without  a  contradic- 
tion. You  ought,  indeed,  to  think  very  highly  of  Mr. 
Newman.  It  is  well,  when  God  cannot  do  a  thing, 
that  man  can  ;  though  I  confess,  considering  the  very 
wide  prevalence  of  this  pernicious  error,  it  would  have 
been  better,  had  it  been  possible,  that  man  should  have 
had  a  divine  book-revelation  to  tell  him  that  a  divine 
book-revelation  was  impossible.  Great  as  is  my  ad- 
miration of  Mr.  Newman,  I  should,  myself,  have  pre- 
ferred having  God's  word  for  it.  However,  let  us  lay 
it  down  as  an  axiom  that  a  human  book-revelation, 
showing  you  that  '  a  divine  book-revelation  is  impos- 
sible,' is  not  impossible ;  and  really,  considering  the 
almost  universal  error  of  man  on  this  subject,  —  now 
happily  exploded,  —  the  book-revelation  which  con 
vinces  man  of  this  great  truth  ought  to  be  reverenced 
as  of  the  highest  value ;  it  is  such  that  it  might  not 
appear  unworthy  of  celestial  origin,  if  it  did  not  imply 
a  contradiction  that  God  should  reveal  to  us  in  a  booh 
that  a  revelation  in  a  book  is  impossible." 


BOOK-REVELATION.  St 

Fellovves  looked  very  grave,  but  said  nothing. 

"  But  yet,"  continued  Harrington,  very  seriously,  "  I 
know  not  whether  I  ought  not,  upon  your  principles, 
to   consider  this  book-revelation  with  which  you  have 
been  favored,  about  the  impossibility  of  such  a  thing,  . 
as  itself  a  divine  revelation  ;  in  which  case  I  am  afraid 
we  shall  be  constrained  to  admit,  in  form^  that  contra-  / 
diction  which  we  have  been  so  anxious  to  avoid,  by ' 
making  *  possible  with  man  what  is  impossible  with 
God.' " 

"  I  know  not  what  you  mean,"  said  Fellowes,  rather 
offended. 

"  Why,"  said  Harrington,  quite  unmoved,  "  I  have  \ 
heard  you  say  you  do  not  deny,  in  some  sense,  inspira- 
tion, but  only  that  inspiration  is  preternatural ;  that 
every  *  holy  thought,'  every  '  lofty  and  sublime  con- 
ception,' all  '  truth  and  excellence,'  in  any  man,  come 
from  the  *  Father  of  lights,'  and  are  to  be  ascribed  to 
him ;  that,  as  Mr.  Parker  and  Mr.  Foxton  affirm  on 
this  point,  the  inspiration  of  Paul  or  Milton,  or  even  of  ■, 
Christ  and  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  is  of  the  same  nature, 
and  in  an  intelligible  sense  from  the  same  source,  —  dif- 
fering only  in  degree.  Can  you  deem  less,  then,  of  that 
great  conception  by  which  Mr.  Newman  has  released 
you,  and  possibly  many  more,  from  that  bondage  to  a 
*  book-revelation '  in  which  you  were  brought  up,  and 
in  which,  by  your  own  confession,  you  might  have  been 
still  enthralled  ?  Can  you  think  less  of  this  than  that 
it  is  an  '  inspired '  voice  which  has  proclaimed  *  liberty 
to  the  captive,'  and  made  known  to  you  ^  spiritual 
freedom '  ?  If  any  thing  be  divine  about  Mr.  Newman's 
system,  surely  it  must  be  this.  Ought  you  not  to  thank 
God  that  he  has  been  thus  pleased  to  *  open  your  eyes,' 
and  to  turn  you  from  '  darkness  to  light,'  —  to  raise  up 
in  these  last  days  such  an  apostle  of  the  truth  which  had 


82  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

lain  so  long  *  hidden  from  ages  and  generations '  ?  Can 
you  do  less  than  admire  the  divine  artifice  by  which, 
when  it  was  impossible  for  God  directly  to  tell  man 
that  he  could  directly  tell  him  nothing,  He  raised  up 
his  servant  Newman  to  perform  the  office  ?  " 

"  For  my  part,"  said  Fellowes,  "  I  am  not  ashamed  to 
say,  that  I  think  I  ought. to  thank  God  for  such  a  boon 
as  Mr.  Newman  has,  in  this  instance  at  least,  been  the 
instrument  of  conveying  to  me :  I  acknowledge  it  is  a 
most  momentous  truth,  without  which  I  should  still 
have  been  in  thraldom  to  the  '  letter.'  " 

"  Very  well ;  then  the  book-revelation  of  Mr.  New- 
\  man  is,  as  I  say,  in  some  sort  to  yoii^  perhaps  to  many^ 
I    a  divine  *  book-revelation.'  " 

"  Well,  in  some  sense,  it  is  so." 

"  So  that  now  we  have,  in  some  sense,  a  divine  book- 
revelation  to  prove  that  a  divine  book-revelation  is  im- 
'--^  possible." 

"  You  are  pleased  to  jest  on  the  subject,"  said 
Fellowes. 

"  I  never  was  more  serious  in  my  life.  How^ever,  I 
will  not  press  this  point  any  further.  You  shall  be  per- 
mitted to  say  (what  I  will  not  contradict)  that,  though 
Mr.  Newman  may  be  inspired,  for  aught  I  know,  in 
.  that  modified  sense  in  which  you  believe  in  any  such 
phenomenon,  —  inspired  as  much  (say)  as  the  inventor 
of  Lucifer  matches,  —  yet  that  his  book  is  not  divine,  — 
that  it  is  purely  human ;  and  even,  if  you  please,  that 
God  has  had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  But  even  then  I 
must  be  allowed  to  repeat,  that  at  least  you  have  derived 
from  a  '  book-revelation '  what  it  would  not  have  been 
unworthy  of  a  divine  book-revelation  to  impart,  if  it 
could  have  been  imparted  without  contradiction.  Such 
book-revelation,  in  this  case,  must  be  of  inestimable 
value  to  man,  because,  without  it,  he  must  have  persisted 


BOOK-REVELATION.  83 

in  that  ancient  and  all  but  inveterate  and  universal  de- 
lusion of  which  we  have  so  often  spoken.  There  is 
only  one  little  inconvenience,  I  apprehend,  from  it  in 
relation  to  the  argument  of  such  a  book ;  and  that  is, 
that  I  am  afraid  that  men,  so  far  from  being  convinced 
thereby  that  a  divine  revelation  is  impossible,  will  rather 
argue  the  contrary  way,  and  say,  *  If  Mr.  Newman  can 
do  so  much,  what  might  not  God  do  by  the  very  same 
method  ?  '  If  he  can  thus  break  the  spiritual  yoke  of 
his  fellow-men  by  only  teaching  them  negative  truth, 
surely  it  may  be  possible  for  God  to  be  as  useful 
in  teaching  positive  truth.  I  almost  tremble,  I  assure 
you,  lest,  by  his  most  conspicuous  success  in  imparting 
to  you  such  important  truth,  and  reclaiming  you  from 
such  a  fundamental  error,  which  lay  at  the  very  thresh- 
old of  your  '  spiritual '  progress,  he  may,  so  far  from 
convincing  mankind  of  the  truth  of  his  principle,  lead 
them  rather  to  believe  that  a  '  book-revelation '  may 
have  been  very  possible,  and  of  singular  advantage. 
But,  to  speak  the  truth,  I  am  by  no  means  sure  that 
Mr.  Newman  has  not  done  something  more  than  what  , 
we  have  attributed  to  him,  and  whether  his  book-reve- 
lation be  not  a  true  divine  revelation  to  you  also." 

Fellowes  looked  rather  curious,  and  I  thought  a  little 
angry. 

"  My  good  friend,"  said  Harrington,  "  I  am  sure  you 
wiU  not  refuse  me  every  satisfaction  you  can,  in  my 
present  state  of  doubt  and  perplexity ;  that  you  will 
render  me  (as  indeed  you  have  promised)  all  the  assist- 
ance in  your  power,  by  kindly  telling  me  what  you 
know  of  your  own  religious  development  and  history. 
I  cannot  sufficiently  admire  your  candor  and  frankness 
hitherto." 

"  You  may  depend  upon  it,"  said  Fellowes,  "  I  \vill 
not  hesitate  to  answer  any  questions  you  choose  to  put. 


■f 


84  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  system  I  have  adopted,  —  oi 
rather  selected^  for  I  do  not  agree  with  any  one  writer,  — 
although  I  confess  I  wish  I  were  a  better  advocate 
of  it." 

"  O,  rest  assured  that  *  spiritualism '  can  lose  nothing 
by  your  advocacy.  As  to  your  independence  of  mind, 
you  act,  I  am  sure,  upon  the  maxim  in  verba  nullius 
jurare.  Your  system  seems  to  me  quite  a  species  of 
eclecticism.  There  is  no  fear  of  my  confounding  you 
with  the  good  old  lady  who,  after  having  heard  the 
sermon  of  some  favorite  divine,  was  asked  if  she  under- 
stood him.  '  Understand  him ! '  said  she ;  *  do  you 
think  I  would  presume  ?  —  blessed  man  I '  Nor  with 
the  Scotchwoman  who  required,  as  a  condition  of  her 
admiration,  that  a  sermon  should  contain  some  things 
at  least  which  transcended  her  comprehension.  '  Eh . 
it  is  a'  vara  weel,'  said  she,  on  hearing  one  which  did 
not  fulfil  this  reasonable  condition  ;  '  but  do  ye  call  that 
fine  preaching  ?  —  there  was  na  ae  word  that  I  could 
na  explain  mysel.'  " 

Fellowes  smiled  good-naturedly,  and  then  said,  "  I  was 
^oing  to  observe,  in  relation  to  the  present  subject,  that 
I  it  is  *  moral  and  spiritual '  truth  which  Mr.  Newman 
\says  it  is  impossible  should  be  the  subject  of  a  book- 
revelation." 

Harrington,  apparently  without  listening  to  him, 
suddenly  said,  "  By  the  by,  you  agree  with  Mr.  New- 
man, I  am  sure,  that  God  is  to  be  approached  by  the 
individual  soul  without  any  of  the  nonsense  of  media- 
1  tion,  which  has  found  so  general  —  all  but  universal  — 
sanction  in  the  religious  systems  of  the  world  ?  " 

"  Certainly,"  said  Fellowes,  "  nor  is  there  probably 
any  <  spiritualist '  (in  whatever  we  may  be  divided)  who 
would  deny  that." 

"  Supposing  it  true,  does  it  not  seem  to  you  the  most 
delightful  and  stupendous  of  all  spiritual  truths  ?  " 


BOOK-REVELATION.  ^ 

"  It  does,  indeed,"  said  Fellowes. 

"  Could  you  always  realize  i^  my  friend  ? "  said 
Harrington. 

"  Nay,  I  was  once  a  firm  believer  in  the  current 
orthodoxy,  as  you  well  know." 

*  Now  you  see  with  very  different  eyes.  You  can 
say,  with  the  man  in  the  Gospel,  *  This  I  know,  that, 
whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I  see." 

« I  can." 

"  And  you  attribute  this  happy  change  of  sentiment 
to  the  perusal  of  those  writings  of  Mr.  Newman  from 
which  you  think  that  I  also  might  derive  similar  ben- 
efits?" 

« I  do." 
'  "  It  appears,  then,  that  to  you^  at  least,  my  friend, 
it  is  possible  that  there  may  be  a  book-revelation  of 
*  moral  and  spiritual  truth '  of  the  highest  possible  sig- 
nificance and  value,  although  you  do  not  consider  the 
book  to  be  divine ;  now,  if  so,  I  fancy  many  will  be 
again  inclined  to  say,  that  what  Mr.  Newman  has  done 
in  your  case,  God  might  easily  do,  if  he  pleased,  for 
mankind  in  general ;  and  with  this  advantage,  that  He 
would  not  include  in  the  same  book  which  revealed 
truth  to  the  mind,  and  rectified  its  errors,  an  assurance 
that  any  such  book-revelation  was  impossible." 

"  But,  my  ingenious  friend,"  cried  Fellowes,  with 
some  warmth,  "  you  are  inferring  a  little  too  fast  for 
the  premises.  I  do  not  admit  that  Mr.  Newman  or  any 
other  spiritualist  has  revealed  to  me  any  truth,  but  only 
that  he  has  been  the  instrument  of  giving  shape  and 
distinct  consciousness  to  what  was,  in  fact,  uttered  in 
the  secret  oracles  of  my  own  bosom  before ;  and,  as  I 
believe,  is  uttered  also  in  the  hearts  of  all  other  men." 

"  I  fear  your  distinction  is  practically  without  a  dif- 
ference.    It  will  certainly  not  avail  us.     You  say  you 

8 


86  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

were  once  in  no  distinct  conscious  possession  of  that 
system  of  spiritual  truth  which  you  now  hold ;  on  the 
contrary,  that  you  believed  a  very  different  system  • 
that  the  change  by  which  you  were  brought  into  your 
present  condition  of  mind  —  out  of  darkness  into  light 
—  out  of  error  into  truth  —  has  been  produced  chiefly 
by  Mr.  Newman's  deeply  instructive  volumes.  If  so, 
one  will  be  apt  to  argue  that  a  book-revelation  may  be 
of  the  very  utmost  use  and  benefit  to  mankind  in  gen- 
eral, —  if  only  by  making  that  which  would  else  be  the 
inarticulate  mutter  of  the  internal  oracle  distinct  and 
iclear ;  and  that  if  God  would  but  give  such  a  book,  the 
same  value  at  least  might  attach  to  it  as  to  a  book  of 
Mr.  Newman's.  It  little  matters  to  this  argument, — to 
the  question  of  the  possibility,  value,  or  utility  of  an 
external  revelation,  —  whether  the  truths  it  is  to  com- 
municate be  absolutely  unknown  till  it  reveals  them,  or 
only  not  known,  which  you  confess  was  your  own  case. 
If  your  natural  taper  of  illumination  is  stuck  into  a 
dark  lantern,  and  its  light  only  can  flash  upon  the  soul 
when  some  Mr.  Newman  kindly  lifts  up  the  slide  for 
you ;  or  if  your  internal  oracle,  like  a  ghost,  will  not 
speak  till  it  is  spoken  to;  or, like  a  dumb  demon,  awaits 
to  find  a  voice,  and  confess  itself  to  be  what  it  is,  at  the 
summons  of  an  exorcist ; — the  same  argument  precise 
ly  will  apply  for  the  possibility  and  utility  of  a  book- 
revelation  from  God  to  men  in  general.  What  has  been 
done  for  you  by  man,  even  though  no  more  were 
done,  might,  one  would  imagine,  be  done  for  the  rest  of 
mankind,  and  in  a  much  better  manner,  by  God.  If  that 
internal  and  native  revelation  which  both  you  and  Mr. 
Newman  say  has  its  seat  in  the  human  soul,  be  clear 
without  his  aid,  why  did  he  write  a  syllable  about  it  ?  If, 
as  you  say,  its  utterances  were  not  recognized,  and  that 
his  statements  have  first  made  them  familiar  to  you, 


BOOK-REVELATION.  87 

the  same  argument  (the  Christian  will  say)  will  do  fof 
the  Bible.  It  is  of  little  use  that  nature  teaches  you,  if 
Mr.  Newman  is  to  teach  nature." 

Fellowes  was  silent ;  and,  after  a  pause,  Harrington 
resumed  ;  he  could  not  resist  the  temptation  of  saying, 
with  playful  malice,  — 

"  Perhaps  you  are  in  doubt  whether  to  say  that  the 
internal  revelation  which  you  possess  does  teach  you 
clearly  or  darkly.  It  is  a  pity  that  nature  so  teaches 
as  to  leave  you  in  doubt  till  some  one  else  teaches  you 
what  she  does  teach  you.  She  must  be  like  some 
ladies,  who  keep  school  indeed,  but  have  accomplished 
masters  to  teach  every  thing.  Shall  we  call  Mr.  New 
man  the  Professor  of  '  Spiritual  Insight '  ?  Would  it 
not  be  advisable,  if  you  are  in  any  uncertainty,  to  write 
to  him  to  ask  whether  the  internal  truths  which  no  ex- 
ternal revelation  can  impart  be  articulate  or  not;  or 
whether,  though  a  book  from  God  could  not  make  them 
plainer,  you  are  at  Liberty  to  say  that  a  book  of  Mr. 
Newman's  will  ?  It  is  undoubtedly  a  subtile  question 
for  him  to  decide  for  you ;  namely,  what  is  the  condi- 
tion of  your  own  consciousness  ?  But  I  really  see  no 
help  for  it,  after  what  you  have  granted ;  nor,  without 
his  aid,  do  I  see  whether  you  can  truly  affirm  that  you 
have  an  internal  revelation,  independently  of  him  or  not. 
And  whichever  way  he  decides,  I  am  afraid  lest  he 
should  prove  both  himself  and  you  very  much  in  the 
wrong.  If  he  decides  for  you,  that  your  internal  reve-  / 
lation  must  and  did  anticipate  any  thing  he  might  \ 
write,  and  that  it  was  perfectly  articulate,  as  well  as  \ 
inarticulately  present  to  your  <  insight '  before^  it  will  be  / 
difficult  to  determine  why  he  should  have  written  at 
all ;  he  would  also  prove,  not  only  how  superfluous  is 
your  gratitude,  but  that  he  understands  your  own  con- 
sciousness better  than   you  do.     If  he  decides  it  the 


88  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

other  way,  and  says  you  had  a  *  revelation '  before  he 
revealed  it,  yet  that  he  made  it  utter  articulate  lan- 
guage, and  interpreted  its  hieroglyphics,  —  then  it  once 
tnore  seems  very  strange  that  either  you  or  he  should 
contend  that  a  '  book-revelation '  is  impossible,  since 
Mr.  Newman  has  produced  it.  If,  however,  he  decides 
in  the  first  of  these  two  ways,  I  fear,  my  good  friendj 
that  we  shall  fall  into  another  paradox  worse  than  all, 
for  it  will  prove  that  the  ^internal  revelation'  which 
you  possess  is  better  known  to  Mr.  Newman  than  to 
yourself,  which  will  be  a  perfectly  worthy  conclusion  of 
all  this  embarras.  It  would  be  surely  droll  for  you  to 
affirm  that  you  possess  an  internal  revelation  which 
renders  all  *  external  revelation '  impossible,  but  yet  that 
[its  distinctness  is  unperceived  by  yourself,  and  awaits 
the  assurance  of  an  external  authority,  which  at  the 
same  time  declares  all  '  external  revelation '  impossi- 
ble!" 

"  There  is  still  another  word,"  said  Fellowes,  "  which 
you  forget  that  Mr.  Newman  employs ;  he  says  that 
an  authoritative  book-revelation  of  moral  and  spiritual 
truth  is  impossible." 

"  Why,"  said  Harrington,  laughing,  "  while  you  were 
without  the  truth,  as  you  say  you  were,  it  was  not 
likely  to  be  authoritative :  if,  when  you  have  it,  it  is 
recognized  as  authoritative,  which  you  say  is  the  case 
with  the  truth  you  have  got  from  Mr.  Newman, —  if 
you  acknowledge  that  it  ought  to  have  authority  as 
soon  as  known,  —  that  is  all  (so  far  as  I  know)  that  is 
contended  for  in  the  case  of  the  Bible.  If  you  mean 
by  *  authoritative '  a  revelation  which  not  only  ought 
to  be,  but  which  is  so,  I  think  mankind  make  it 
pretty  plain  that  neither  the  '  external '  nor  the  *  in- 
ternal' revelation  is  particularly  authoritative.  In 
short,"   he  concluded    "  I  do   not    see    how  we   can 


BOOK-REVELATION. 

doubt,  on  the  principles  on  which  Mr.  Newman  acts 
and  yet  denies,  that  a  book-revelation  of  moral  and 
spiritual  truth  is  very  possible ;  and  if  given,  would  be 
signally  useful  to  mankind  in  general.  If  Mr.  New- 
man, as  you  admit,  has  written  a  book  which  has  put 
you  in  possession  of  moral  and  spiritual  truth,  surely  it 
may  be  modestly  contended  that  God  might  dictate  a 
better.  Either  you  were  in  possession  of  the  truths  in 
question  before  he  announced  them,  or  you  were  not ; 
if  not,  Mr.  Newman  is  your  infinite  benefactor,  and 
God  may  De  at  least  as  great  a  one ;  if  you  were,  then 
Mr.  Newman,  like  Job's  comforters,  *  has  plentifully 
declared  the  thing  as  it  is.'  If  you  say,  that  you  were 
in  possession  of  them,  but  only  by  implication;  that 
you  did  not  see  them  clearly  or  vividly  till  they  were 
propounded, — that  is,  that  you  saw  them,  only  practi- 
cally you  were  blind,  and  knew  them,  only  you  were 
virtually  ignorant;  still,  whatever  Mr.  Newman  does 
(and  it  amounts,  in  fact,  to  revelation),  that  may  the 
Bible  also  do.  If  even  that  be  not  possible,  and  man 
naturally  possesses  these  truths  explicitly,  as  well  as  im- 
plicitly, then,  indeed,  the  Bible  is  an  impertinence,  — 
and  so  is  Mr.  Newman." 

After  a  pause,  Harrington  suddenly  asked, — 

"  Do  you  not  think  there  is  some  difference  between 
yourself  and  a  Hottentot  ?  " 

"  I  should  hope  so,"  said  Fellowes,  with  a  laugh. 

"  But  still  the  Hottentot  has  all  the  *  spiritual  facul- 
ties '  of  which  you  speak  so  much  ?  " 

"  Certainly." 

"  What  makes  this  prodigious  difference  ?  —  for  of 
that,  as  a  fact,  we  cannot  dispute." 

"  Different  culture  and  education,  I  suppose." 

"  This  culture  and  education  is  a  thing  external  ?  " 

'  It  is." 

8* 


90  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH 

"  This  culture  and  education,  however,  must  be  of 
immense  importance  indeed,  since  it  makes  all  the  dif 
ference  between  the  having  or  the  not  having,  prac- 
tically, any  just  religious  notions,  or  sentiments,  or 
practices,  (even  in  your  estimation,)  whatever  our  in- 
ternal revelation." 
"-^  "  But  still  I  hold,  with  Mr.  Parker,  that  the  *  absolute 
religion '  is  the  same  in  all  men.  The  difference  is  in 
circumstantials  only,  as  Mr.  Parker  says." 

"  When  it  serves  his  turn,"  said  Harrington  ;  "  and  he 
says  the  contrary,  when  it  serves  his  turn  ;  then  the  de- 
praved forms  of  religion  are  hideous  enough :  when  he 
wishes  to  commend  his  '  absolute  religion,'  they  merely 
differ  in  circumstantials.  Circumstantials  !  I  have  hard- 
ly patience  to  hear  these  degrading  apologies  for  all  that 
is  most  degrading  in  humanity.  If  the  '  absolute  relig- 
ion,' as  he  vaguely  calls  it,  be  present  in  these  systems 
of  gross  ignorance  and  unspeakable  pollution,  it  is  so 
incrusted  and  buried  that  it  is  indiscernible  and  worth- 
less. Rightly,  therefore,  have  you  expressed  a  hope 
that  there  is  a  *  prodigious  difference '  between  you  and 
a  Hottentot.     You  adhere  to  that,  I  presume." 

"  Of  course  I  shall,'  said  Fellowes. 

"  Well,  let  us  see.  Would  you  think,  if  you  were 
turnedinto  a  Hottentot  to-morrow,  you  had  a  religion 
worthy  of  the  name,  or  not  ?  " 

"  I  am  afraid  I  should  not." 
r       "  You  hope  it,  you    mean.     Well,   then,  it  appears 
;    that  culture  and  education  do  somehow  make  all  the 
difference  between  a  man's  having  a  religion  worthy 
of  the  name,  and  the  contrary  ?  " 

"  I  must  admit  it,  for  I  cannot  deny  it  in  point  of 
fact." 

"  And  you  also  admit  that,  in  nine  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  thousand,  or  in  a  much  larger 


BOOK-REVELATION.  -"^^  91 

proportion,  taking  all  the  nations  of  the  world  since 
time  began,  the  said  culture  and  education  have  been 
wanting,  or  ineffably  bad  ?  " 

«  Yes.'» 

"  So  that  there  have  been  very  few,  in  point  of  fact, 
who  have  attained  that  *  spiritual '  religion  for  which 
you  and  our  spiritualists  contend;  and  those  few 
chiefly^  as  Mr.  Newman  admits,  amongst  Jews  and 
Christians,  though  they  too  have  had  their  most  griev- 
ous errors,  which  have  deplorably  obscured  it?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  It  appears,  then,  I  think,  that  if  we  allow  that  the 
internal  revelation  without  a  most  happy  external  cul- 
ture and  development  will  not  form  any  religion  at  all 
worthy  of  the  name,  and  that  that  happy  culture  and 
development  (from  whatsoever  cause)  are  not  the  con- 
dition of  our  race,  —  it  appears,  I  say,  rather  odd  to 
affirm  that  any  divine  aid  in  this  absolutely  necessary 
external  education  of  humanity  is  not  only  superfluous, 
but  impossible.^^ 

Another  pause  ensued,  when  Harrington  again  said, 
"  You  will  think  me  very  pertinacious,  perhaps,  but  I 
must  say  that,  in  my  judgment,  Mr.  Newman's  theory 
oi  progressive  religion  (for  he  also  admits  a  doctrine  of 
progress)  favors  the  same  sceptical  doubts  as  to  the 
impossibility  of  a  book-revelation.  You  do  not  deny,  1 
suppose,  that  he  does  think  the  world  needs  enlight- 
ening ?  " 

"  Had  he  not  believed  that,  he  would  not  have 
written." 

"  I  suppose  not.  However,  how  the  world  should 
need  it,  if  your  principles  be  true,  and  every  man  brings 
into  the  world  his  own  particular  lantern,  — '  Enter 
Moonshine,'  —  I  do  not  quite  understand ;  or,  if  it  is 
in  need  of  such  illunilnation   notwithstanding,  why  it 


92  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

should  not  be  possible  for  an  external  revelation  to 
supply  it  still  better  than  your  illuminati,  I  am  equally 
unable  to  understand.  But  let  that  pass.  Mr.  New- 
man concludes  that  the  world  does  stand  in  need  of 
this  illumination,  and  that  it  has  had  it  at  various 
times.  It  is  his  opinion,  is  it  not,  that  men  began  by 
being  polytheists  and  idolaters  ?  " 

"  It  is  so ;  and  surely  all  history  bears  out  the 
theory." 

"  Many  doubt  it.  I  will  not  venture  to  give  any 
opinion,  except  that  there  are  inexplicable  difficulties, 
as  usual,  on  both  sides.  Just  now  I  am  quite  willing 
to  take  his  statement  for  granted,  and  suppose  that  man 
in  the  infancy  of  his  race  was,  in  spite  of  the  aid  of 
his  very  peculiar  illumination,  —  which  seems  to  have 

*  rayed  out  darkness,'  — ^  as  very  a  Troglodyte  in  civili- 
zation and  religion  as  you  (for  the  special  glory  of  his 
Creator,  I  suppose,  and  the  honor  of  your  species)  can 
wish  him  to  have  been.  Well,  man  began  by  being  a 
polytheist,  and  verj/  gradually  emerged  out  of  that 
pleasant  condition  —  or  rather  an  infinitesimal  portion 
of  the  race  has  emerged  out  of  it,  into  the  better  forms 
of  idolatry —  (poor  wretch  I),  and  from  thence  to  mon- 
otheism ;  that,  in  short,  his  polytheism  is  not  the  cor- 
ruption of  his  monotheism,  but  his  monotheism  an 
elevation  of  his  polytheism.  Yet  it  is,  after  all,  a 
cheerless  *  progress,'  which  often  '  advances  backward.' 
Mr.  Newman  says  that  *  the  law  of  God's  moral  uni- 
verse, as  known  to  us,  is  that  oi progress  ;  that  we  trace 
it  from  old  barbarism  to  the  methodized  Egyptian  idol- 
atry, to  the  more  flexible  polytheism  of  Syria  and 
Greece,'  and  so  forth ;  and  so  in  Palestine,  from  the 

•  image-worship  in  Jacob's  family  to  the  rise  of  spirit- 
ual sentiment  under  David,  and  Hezekiah's  prophets.'  * 

*  Phases,  p.  223. 


BOOK-REVELATION.  93 

Yet  he  a.so  tells  us,  *  Ceremonialism  more  and  more  I 
incrusted  the  restored  nation,  and  Jesus  was  needed  to/ 
spur  and  stab  the  consciences  of  his  contemporaries,' 
and  recall  them  to  more  spiritual  perceptions.'  Well, 
thus  came  Christ  to  '  stab  and  spur ' ;  and  faith,  I  think 
*  stab  and  spur '  were  again  needed  by  the  end  of  the 
third  century.  Successive  reformers  are  needed  to  *  stab 
and  spur '  the  thick  hide  of  humanity,  without  which  it 
will  not,  it  seems,  go  forward,  but  perversely  go  back- 
ward ;  and  even  with  this  perpetual  application  of  the 
goad  of  some  spiritual  mohout,  man  crawls  on  at  an 
intolerably  slow  pace.  However,  '  stab '  and  '  spur '  are 
needed,  which  is  all  I  am  now  intent  upon." 

"  Yes ;  but  each  of  those  great  souls  who  have 
stimulated  the  dull  mind  of  ordinary  humanity  derived 
from  its  ow7i  internal  illumination  that  spiritual  light 
which  they  have  communicated  to  the  rest  of  man- 
kind!" 

"  For  themselves,  perhaps,  my  friend,"  said  Harring- 
ton, "  and  if  they  had  kept  it  to  themselves  in  many 
instances,  probably  the  world  would  have  been  no 
loser.  That  they  had  it  from  within,  is  true,  —  if  your 
theory  is  true.  But  to  others,  to  the  bulk  of  mankind, 
they  have  imparted  this  light ;  it  has  been  to  mankind ' 
an  \  external  revelation ' ;  it  is  from  without,  not  from 
within,  that  this  light  has  been  received,  and  that  the 
boasted  *  progress '  of  the  race  has  been  secured.  It 
remains,  therefore,  only  for  your  Christian  opponent  to 
ask,  how  it  should  be  impossible  that  mankind  should  be 
indebted  to  an  external  revelation  by  God,  when  it  is 
plain  that  they  are  indebted  for  the  like  from  man !  and 
whether  it  is  not  conceivable  that,  if  Moses  and  Soc- 
rates and  Paul  could  do  so  much  for  them,  God  could 
do  a  trifle  more  ?  You  will  say,  perhaps,  on  the  old 
plea,  that  these  profounder  spirits  only  made  articulate 


94  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

that  whicb  abeady  existed  inarticulately  in  the  hearts 
of  those  whom  they  addressed ;  that  they  only  chafed 
into  life  the  marble  statue  of  Pygmalion,  —  the  dor- 
mant principles  aad  sentiments  which  had  a  home  in 
the  human  heart  before,  only  they  were  unluckily 
treated  as  strangers.  Well^jthe_s_ame  thing  may  the 
apologist  for  the  Bible  sayj  — merely  adding,  perhafiS 
that  it  does  more  effectually  the  business  of  thus  awa- 
kening *  dormant '  powers,  and  giving  a  substantive 
form  to  the  shadow^y  conceptions  of  mankind.  But  it 
is  still,  in  either"case,  to  the  bulk  of  the  world  an 
external  revelation,  an  outward  aid  which  gives  them 
the  actual  conscious  possession  of  spiritual  light,  and 
secures  the  vaunted  progress  of  humanity.  Such  are 
some  of  my  difficulties  respecting  your  theory  of  the 
impossibility  and  inutility  of  any  and  all  external  reve- 
lations. I  must,  in  candor,  say  that  our  discussion  has 
left  them  where  they  were." 

"  There  is  one  thing,"  he  added,  "  about  your  system 
which  I  acknowledge  would  be  consolatory  to  me  if 
it  were  but  true.  If  man  be  really  in  possession  of  an 
internal  and  universal  revelation  of  moral  and  spiritual 
truth,  you  neither  can  nor  need  take  any  trouble  to 
enlighten  and  convert  him.  It  relieves  one  of  all  super- 
fluous anxiety  on  that  score." 

"  Pardon  me,"  said  Fellowes,  "  it  is  Mr.  Newman's 
spiritual  theory  alone  which  does  allow  the  prospect  of 
success  to  any  such  efforts.  As  he  truly  says,  when 
the  spiritual  champion  has  thrown  off  the  burden  of  an 
historical  Christianity,  he  advances,  as  lightly  equipped 
as  Priestley  himself.  I  should  say  much  more  lightly. 
*  What,'  says  he,  '  may  we  now  expect  from  the  true 
theologian  when  he  attacks  sin,  and  vice,  and  gross  un- 
spirituality  ? '  *  The  weapon  he  uses,'  to  employ  Mr. 
Newman's  own  language,  *  is  as  ligh^juing  from  God, 


BOOK-REVELATION.  95 

kindled  from  the  spirit  within  him,  and  piercing  through 
the  unbeliever's  soul,  convincing  his  conscience  of  sin, 
and  striking  him  to  the  ground  before  God ;  until  those 
who  believe  receive  it  not  as  the  word  of  man,  but  as 
what  it  is,  in  truth,  the  word  of  God.  Its  action  is 
directly  upon^e_conscience  and  upon  the  soul,  and 
hence  its  wonderful  results ;  not  on  the  critical  faculties, 
upon  which  the  spirit  is  powerless.'  *  Again,  he  says 
that  such  a  preacher  <  will  have  plenty  to  say^  alike  to 
the  vulvar  and  to  the  philosophers.^  appreciable  by  the 
soul.'  Hear  him  again :  *  Then  he  may  speak  with 
confidence  of  what  he  knows  and  feels ;  and  call  on 
his  hearers  of  themselves  to  try  and  prove  his  words- 
Then  the  conversion  of  men  to  the  love  of  God  may 
take  place  by  hundreds  and  thousands^  as  in  some  former 
instances.  Then,  at  length,  some  hope  may  dawn  that 
Mohammedans  and  Hindoos  may  be  joined  in  one  fold 
with  us,  under  one  Shepherd,  who  will  only  have  re- 
gained his  older  name  of  the  Lord  God.'  "  f 

"  By  all  the  gods  and  goddesses  of  all  the  nations," 
said  Harrington,  "  I  cannot  understand  it.  How  man- 
kind should  need  such  teaching,  if  your  theory  be  true ; 
how,  if  they  need  it,  it  is  possible  that  you  should  give 
it,  if  all  external  revejation  of  moral  and  spiritual  truth 
be  impossible  ;  how,  if  it  is  impossible,  it  should  be  im- 
possible for  a  God,  by  a  Bible,  to  give  the  like ;  how 
you  can  get  at  the  souls  of  people  at  all  except  through 
the  intervention  of  the  senses  and  the  intellect,  —  the 
latter  of  which  you  say  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
*  soul,'  and  surely  the  former  can  have  as  little ;  or  how, 
if  you  can  get  at  them  by  this  intervention,  it  is  im- 
possible that  a  Bible  should,  —  is  all  to  me  a  mystery. 
But  let  that  pass.     If  your  last  account  be  true,  one 

*  Soul,  p.  244.  t  Soul,  p.  258. 


96  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

thing  is  clear ;  that  a  splendid  career  is  open  to  you 
and  your  friends.  You  can  immediately  employ  this* 
irresistible  *  weapon  '  for  the  verification  of  your  views 
and  the  conversion  of  the  human  race.  You  can  re- 
new, or  rather  realize,  the  triumphs  of  early  Christian- 
ity; —  I  say  realize,  for  you  and  Mr.  Newman  believe 
them  to  be,  for  the  most  part,  fabulous^  and  that  it  was 
the  army  of  Constantine  that  conquered  the  Empire  for 
Christianity ;  but  you  can  turn  such  fables  into  truths. 
Surely  the  least  you  can  do  is  to  be  off  as  a  mission- 
ary to  China  or  India.  Go  to  Constantinople,  my  dear 
fellow,  and  take  the  Great  Turk  by  the  beard.  Nor  can 
Mr.  Newman  do  less  than  repair  to  Bagdad,  upon  a 
second  and  more  hopeful  mission.  You  will  let  mt 
know  when  you  have  demolished  Mohammedanisni, 
and  got  fairly  into  Thibet.  Alexander's  career  will  be 
nothing  to  it.  But  alas !  I  fear  it  will  be  only  another 
variety  of  that  impossible  thing,  —  a  book-revelation ! " 

"  Nay,"  said  Fellowes,  "  we  must  first  finish  our  mis- 
sion at  home,  and  try  our  weapons  upon  you  and  such 
as  you.     We  must  subdue  such  as  you  first." 

"  Then  you  will  never  go,"  said  Harrington. 

"  Never  mind,"  I  said,  "  Mr.  Fellowes ;  Harrington  is 
very  mischievous  to-day.  But,  as  he  said  he  would  not 
contest  the  ground  of  your  dictum^  that  a  book-revela- 
tion of  moral  and  spiritual  truth  is  impossible,  so  he 
has  not  entered  into  it.  Will  you  let  me,  on  some 
future  day,  read  to  you  a  brief  paper  upon  it  ?  I  have 
no  skill  —  or  but  little  —  in  that  erotetic  method  of 
which  Harrington  is  so  fond."  He  assented,  and  here 
this  long  conversation  ended. 


July  7.     Harrington  and  I  spent  a   portion  of  this 
morning  alone  (Fellowes  was  gone  out  for  a  day  or  two), 


07 

conversing  on  various  subjects.  I  hardly  know  how  it 
was,  but  I  felt  a  strong  reluctance  to  enter  with  for- 
mality on  that  one  which  yet  lay  nearest  my  heart,  — 
whether  from  the  fear  lest  I  should  do  more  harm  than 
good ;  lest  controversy  should,  as  so  often  happens,  in- 
durate rather  than  soften  the  heart :  or  perhaps  I  had 
some  secret  distrust  of  my  own  temper  or  his.  Yet, 
if  I  felt  any  thing  of  the  last,  I  am  sure  I  did  him  injus- 
tice ;  and  (I  hope)  myself.  Be  it  as  it  may,  I  thought 
it  better  just  to  exchange  a  shot  now  and  then,  —  some- 
times it  was  a  red-hot  shot  too  on  both  sides,  —  as  we 
passed  and  repassed,  in  the  current  of  conversation,  than 
come  to  a  regular  set-to,  yard-arm  to  yard-arm.  From 
whatever  cause,  he  gave  me  abundant  opportunity  of 
recurring  to  the  subject,  for  he  was  perpetually,  and  I 
believe  unconsciously,  leading  the  conversation  towards 
it ;  not,  I  think,  from  confidence  in  his  logical  prowess, 
but  from  the  restlessness  in  which  (he  did  not  pretend 
to  disguise  it)  his  state  of  scepticism  had  plunged  him. 
It  was  curious,  indeed,  to  see  how  every  thing,  sooner 
or  later,  fell  into  one  channel.  For  example,  I  hap- 
pened to  remark,  that  a  cottage  in  the  valley  which  we 
saw  from  his  library  window  would  make  a  pretty  ob- 
ject in  a  picture,  —  it  was  the  only  sign  of  life  in  the 
little  valley.  "  I  should  like  the  view  itself  all  the  better 
without  it,"  said  he.  I  observed  that  a  painter  would 
feel  very  differently  ;  and  if  there  were  no  such  object, 
he  would  be  sure  to  put  one  in.  "  O,  certainly,"  he 
replied,  "  a  painter  would,  and  justly  ;  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  shadow  of  animated  existence  is  very  admirable ; 
a  picture,  I  admit,  is  wonderfully  more  picturesque 
with  such  a  picture  of  life ;  especially  as  the  painter  can 
and  does  remove  every  thing  offensive  to  his  fastidious 
art.  He  is  very  apt  to  regard  the  objects  in  his  land- 
scapes much  as  a  poet  does  a  cottage,  according  to 


/ 

98  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

Cowper's  confession.  '  By  a  cottage,'  says  he  to  Lady 
Hesketh,  *  you  must  always  understand,  my  dear,  that 
a  poet  means  a  house  with  six  sashes  in  front,  two 
comfortable  parlors,  a  smart  staircase,  and  three  bed- 
rooms of  convenient  dimensions.'  As  I  have  looked 
sometimes  down  a  mountain  glen,  and  seen  the  most 
picturesque  huts  upon  its  sides,  I  have  thought  how 
little  the  painter  could  dispense  with  them.  But,  then? 
how  easily  the  philosopher  can  :  for,  alas !  I  have  taken 
wing  from  my  station,  and  looked  in  through  the  miser- 
able casement,  and  seen,  not  only  what  is  disgusting  to 
the  senses,  —  which  is  a  small  matter,  —  but  ignorance, 
and  disease,  and  fear,  and  guilt,  and  racking  pain,  and 
doubt,  and  death ;  and  I  have  not  been  able  to  help 
saying,  in  pity,  *  O  for  absolute  solitude !  —  how  much 
nature  would  be  improved  if  the  human  race  were 
annihilated ! ' " 

"  The  human  race,"  said  I,  laughing,  "is  very  much 
obliged  to  the  pity  which  would  thus*exterminate  them  ; 
but  as  one  of  them,  I  should  decidedly  object  to  so 
sweeping  a  mode  of  improving  the  picturesque.  Be- 
sides, I  suppose  you  make  an  exception  in  favor  of 
yourself,  otherwise  the  picturesque  would  vanish  just 
when  it  was  brought  to  perfection.  I  am  often  in- 
clined to  say  with  Paley,  though  I  remember  well  hav- 
ing sometimes  felt  as  you  do,  *  It  is  a  happy  world, 
after  all.'  I  admit,  however,  that  a  buoyant,  cheerful, 
habitual  conviction  of  this  will  depend  on  the  consti- 
tution of  the  mind,  and  even  vary  with  the  same  mind 
p4n  its  different  moods.  But  I  am  sure  it  may  be  a 
'  really  happy  world,  whatever  its  sorrows,  to  any  one 
who  will  view  it  as  he  ought." 

"  I  wish  you  could  teach  me  the  art." 
r"  Mt  is,"  said  I,  "  to  exercise  the  faith  and  the  hope 
of  a   Christian,  humbly  to  regard  this  life  as  what  it 


99 

isj  —  a  scene  af  discipline  and  schpolingt  a  pilgrimage" 
to  a  better.  It  is  an  old  remedy,  but  it  has  been  often 
tried  ;  and  to  milHons  of  our  race  has  made  this  world 
more  than  tolerable,  and  death  tranquil,  nay,  trium 
phant.  Do  you  remember  Schiller's  '  Walk  among  the 
Linden-Trees'?" 

«  Perfectly  well." 

"  Do  you  not  remember  how  the  two  youths  differ  in 
their  estimate  of  the  beautiful  in  nature  ?  *  Is  it  pos- 
sible,' says  Edwin,  '  you  can  thus  turn  from  the  cup  of 
joy,  sparkling  and  overflowing  as  it  is  ?  '  — '  Yes,'  said 
Wollmar,  'when  one  finds  a  spider  in  it;  and  why 
not  ?  In  your  eyes,  to  be  sure.  Nature  decks  herself  out 
like  a  rosy-cheeked  maiden  on  her  bridal  day.  To  me 
she  appears  an  old,  withered  beldame,  with  sunken 
eyes,  furrowed  cheeks,  and  artificial  ornaments  in  her 
hair.  How  she  seems  to  admire  herself  in  this  her  Sun- 
day finery !  But  it  is  the  same  w^orn  and  ancient  gar- 
ment, put  off  and  on  some  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
times.'  But  how  natural  is  the  explanation  of  all  given 
at  the  beautiful  close  of  the  dialogue  !  *  Here,'  said  the 
jocund  Edwin,  *  I  first  met  my  Juliet.'  — '  And  it  was 
under  these  linden-trees,'  says  Wollmar,  'that  I  lost 
my  Laura.'  It  'wa§  their  mood  of  mind,  and  not  the 
outward  world,  that  made  all  the  difference.  All  nature, 
innocent  thing !  must  consent  to  take  her  hue  from  it. 
You  have,  I  fear,  lost  your  Laura," —  simply  alluding 
to  his  early  faith  ;  "  or  shall  I  suppose,  from  your  pres- 
ent mood,  that  you  have  just  met  with  your  Juliet?" 
I  spoke,  of  course,  of  his  philosophy. 

He  was  looking  out  of  the  window ;  but  on  my  turn- 
ing my  gaze  towards  him,  I  saw  such  a  look  of  peculiar 
anguish,  that  I  felt  I  had  inadvertently  touched  a  ter- 
rible chord  indeed.  I  turned  the  conversation  hastily, 
by  remarking  (almost  without  thinking  of  what  I  said) 


100  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

on  the  beautiful  contrast  between  the  light  blue  of  the 
sky  and  tffe  green  of  the  lawn  and  trees ;  and  proceed- 
ed to  remark  on  the  degree  in  which  the  mere  organic 
or  sensational  pleasures  of  vision  formed  an  ingredient 
in  the  pleasurable  associations  of  the  complex  "  beau- 
tiful." 

He  gradually  resumed  conversation ;  and  we  dis- 
cussed the  subject  of  the  "beautiful"  for  some  time. 
Yet  I  know  not  how  it  was,  nor  can  I  trace  the  steps 
by  which  we  deviated,  —  only  that  Rousseau's  summer- 
day  dreams  on  the  Lake  of  Bienne  was  a  link  in  the 
chain,  —  we  somehow  soon  found  ourselves  on  the 
brink  of  the  great  controversy  respecting  the  "  Origin 
of  Evil."  "  I  have  read  many  books  on  that  subject," 
said  I ;  "  but  I  intend  to  read  no  more  ;  and  I  should 
think  you  have  had  enough  of  them." 

"  Why,  yes,"  said  he,  laughing ;  "  whatever  philoso- 
phers may  have  thought  of  the  origin  of  evil,  it  is  a 
great  aggravation  of  it  to  read  their  speculations.     The 
best  thing  I  know  on  the  subject  —  and  it  exhausts  i 
—  is  half  a  dozen  lines  in  *  Robinson  Crusoe.'  " 

"  Robinson  Crusoe  !  "  said  I. 

"  Certainly,"  he  replied ;  "  do  you  not  remember  that 
when  he  caught  his  man  Friday,  the  <  intuitional  con- 
sciousness '  —  the  *  insight '  —  the  *  inward  revelation ' 
of  that  worthy  savage  not  being  found  quite  so  perfect 
as  Mr.  Parker  would  fancy,  Robinson  proceeds  to  in- 
doctrinate him  in  the  mysteries  of  theology  ?  Friday 
is  much  puzzled,  as  many  more  learned  savages  have 
been  before  him,  to  find  that  the  infinite  power,  wis- 
dom, and  goodness  of  God  had  made  every  thing  very 
good,  and  that  good  it  would  have  continued  had  it 
not  been  for  the  opposition  of  the  Devil.  *  Why  God 
not  kill  Debbil  ? '  asks  poor  Friday.  On  which  says 
Robinson,  *  Though  I  was  a  very  old  man,  I  found  that 


UNSTABLE    EQUILIBRIUM.  101 

I  was  but  a  young  doctor  in  divinity.'  Ah !  if  all  doc- 
tors in  divinity  had  been  equally  candid,  the  treatises 
on  that  dread  subject  would  not  have  been  quite  so 
voluminous ;  for  we  close  them  all  alike  with  the  un- 
availing question,  '  Why  God  not  kill  Debbil  ? '  " 

Observing  this  tendency  to  gravitate  towards  the 
abyss,  I  at  last  said  to  him,  "  I  think,  if  I  were  you, 
having  decided  that  there  is  no  religious  truth  to  be 
found,  I  should  dismiss  the  subject  from  my  thoughts 
altogether.  Do  as  the  Indian  did,  who  struggled  as 
long  as  he  could  to  right  his  canoe  when  he  found  he 
was  in  the  stream  of  Niagara;  but,  finding  his  efforts 
unavailing,  sat  himself  down  with  his  arms  folded,  and  /^ 
went  down  the  falls  without  stirring  a  muscle.  Lei  us 
talk  no  more  on  the  subject.  Why  should  you  perplex 
yourself,  as  you  apparently  do,  about  a  thing  so  hope-  " 
less  to  be  found  out  as  truth  ?  '  What  is  truth  ? '  said 
Pilate ;  and,  as  Bacon  says,  *  he  would  not  wait  for 
an  answer.'  It  was  a  question  to  which,  most  proba- 
bly, he,  like  you,  thought  no  answer  could  be  given. 
If  I  were  you,  I  should  do  the  same.  Why  perplex 
yourself  to  no  purpose  ?  " 

"  I  should  answer,"  said  he,  "  as  Solon  did  when^ 
asked  why  he  grieved  for  his  son,  seeing  all  grief  was 
unavailing.  *  It  is  for  that  very  reason  that  I  grieve,' 
was  the  reply.  And  in  like  manner  I  dwell  on  the 
impossibility  of  discovering  truth  because  it  is  impos- 
sible." 

I  acknowledged  that  it  was  a  sufficient  reason,  and 
that  it  went  to  account  in  some  degree  for  a  fact  I 
had  remarked  in  the  few  sceptics  I  had  come  across,  — 
genuine  or  otherwise,  —  that  they  seemed  less  capable 
of  reposing  in  their  professed  convictions  than  any  one 
else :  it  is  of  no  avail,  they  say,  to  reason  on  such  sub- 
jects; and  yet  they  are  perpetually  reasoning!     They 

9» 


102  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

will  neither  rest  themselves  nor  let  any  one  else  rest. 
He  confessed  it,  and  said,  "  The  state  of  mind  is  very- 
much  as  you  have  described  it ;  and  you  have  described 
it  so  exactly,  that  I  almost  think  you,  my  dear  uncle, 
must  know  the  heart  of  a  sceptic,  and  have  been  one 
yourself  some  time  or  other  ! " 

We  wound  up  the  morning,  which  was  beautiful,  by 
taking  a  ride,  in  the  course  of  which  I  was  amused 
with  an  instance  of  the  sensitiveness  with  which  Har- 
rington's cultivated  mind  recoiled  from  the  grossness  of 
vulgar  and  ignorant  infidelity.  We  called  at  the  cot- 
tage of  a  little  farmer,  a  tenant  of  his,  somewhat  noto- 
rious both  for  profanity  and  sensuality.  Presuming, 
I  suppose,  on  his  young  landlord's  suspected  hetero- 
doxy, and  thinking,  perhaps,  to  curry  favor  with  him, 
he  ventured  (I  know  not  what  led  to  it)  to  indulge  in 
some  stupid  joke  about  the  legion  and  the  herd  of 
swine.  "  Sir,"  said  he,  scratching  his  head,  "  the  Devil, 
I  reckon,  must  have  been  a  more  clever  fellow  than  I 
thought,  to  make  two  thousand  hogs  go  down  a  steep 
place  into  the  sea ;  it  is  hard  enough  even  to  make 
them  go  where  they  will^  and  almost  impossible  to 
make  them  go  where  they  won't." 

"  The  Devil,  my  good  friend,"  said  Harrington,  very 
gravely,  "  is  a  very  clever  fellow ;  and  I  hope  you  do 
not  for  a  moment  intend  to  compare  yourself  with  him. 
As  to  the  supposed  miracle,  it  would,  no  doubt,  be 
hard  to  say  which  were  most  to  be  pitied,  the  devils  in 
the  swine,  or  the  swine  with  the  devils  in  them ;  but 
has  it  never  struck  you  that  the  whole  may  be  an  alle- 
gorical representation  of  the  miserable  and  destructive 
effects  of  the  union  of  the  two  vices  of  sensuality  and 
profanity  ?  They  also  (if  all  tales  be  true)  lead  to  a 
steep  place,  but  I  have  never  heard  that  it  ends  in  the 
water.     Now,"  he  continued,  "  I  dare  say  you  would 


103 

laugh  at  that  story  which  the  Roman  Catholics  tell  of 
St.  Antony ;  namely,  that  *  he  preached  to  the  pigs ' ! 
—  yet  it  has  had  a  very  sound  allegorical  interpreta- 
tion ;  we  are  told  that  it  meant  merely  that  he  preached 
to  country  farmers ;  which,  you  see,  is  no  more  than  I 
have  been  doing." 

It  was  one  of  the  many  things  which  made  me  a 
sceptic  as  to  whether  he  was  one.  "  Harrington,"  said 
I,  "  at  times  I  find  it  impossible  to  believe  that  you 
doubt  the  truth  of  Christianity." 

"  Suppose  I  were  to  answer,  that  at  times  I  doubt 
whether  I  doubt  it  or  not,  would  not  that  be  a  thoroug'h 
sceptic's  answer?"  I  admitted  that  it  would  be  in- 
deed. 


Ml/  8.  I  was  already  in  the  library,  writing,  when 
Hamngton  came  in  to  breakfast.  "  You  seem  busy 
early,"  said  he.  I  told  him  I  was  merely  endeavoring 
to  manifest  my  love  for  his  future  children. 

"  You  know,"  said  I,  "  what  Isocrates  says,  that  it 
is  right  that  children,  as  they  inherit  the  other  pos- 
sessions, should  also  inherit  the  friendships  of  their 
fathers." 

"  My  children !  "  said  he,  very  gravely ;  "  I  shall  never 
have  any." 

"  O,  yes,  you  will,  and  then  these  sullen  vapors  of 
doubt  will  roll  off  before  the  sunlight  of  domestic  hap- 
piness. It  will  allure  you  to  love  Him  who  has  g-.veii 
you  so  much  to  love.  Yes,"  said  I,  gayly,  "  I  shall  visit 
you  one  day  in  happier  moods ;  when  you  will  wonder 
how  you  could  have  indulged  all  your  present  thoughts 
of  God  and  the  universe.  As  you  gaze  into  the  face 
of  innocent  childhood,  which  shows  you  what  faith  in 
God  is  by  +  ust  in  you,  you  will  say,  *  Heaven  shield 


104  THE    ECLIPSE   OF    FAITH. 

the  boy  from  being  what  his  father  has  been  ? '  —  you 
will  feel  that  such  thoughts  as  yours  will  not  do,  as 
the  world  says ;  and  we  shall  all  go  together,  you  with 
your  wife  on  your  arm,  to  church  there  in  the  valley, 
in  the  bright  sun  and  deep  quiet  of  a  Sabbath  morn- 
ing, and  amidst  the  music  of  the  Sabbath  bells;  and 
as  the  tranquil  scene  steals  into  your  very  soul,  you 
will  say,  '  No,  scepticism  was  not  made  for  man.'  " 

"  It  is  a  pleasant  romance,"  he  replied,  gloomily, 
"  and  nothing  more.  I  shall  never  love,  and  shall  there- 
fore never  wed ;  though,  I  suppose,  that  does  not  logi- 
cally follow.  However,  it  does  with  me ;  and,  conse- 
quently, I  presume  the  children  are  also  only  in  posse* 
However,  what  is  this  instance  of  your  kindness  to 
my  possible  children  ?  "  he  added,  more  cheerfully. 

"  I  was  endeavoring,",  said  I,  "  on  the  bare  possibil- 
ity of  your  retaining  as  a  father  all  the  feelings  you 
seem  to  entertain  at  present,  to  compile  for  your  chil- 
dren (as  they  must  be  taught  something,  and  you 
would  wish  them,  as  you  say,  to  know  the  truth)  a 
short  catechism.  I  think  the  questions  in  Watts's  First 
Catechism  might  do  for  the  poor  little  souls.  The  an- 
swers (as  usual)  might  not  be  wholly  intelligible  till 
they  got  older,  but  still  might  awaken  some  notion 
which  in  time  might  ripen  into  confirmed  scepticism." 

"  Well,"  said  he,  laughing,  "  let  me  hear  what  sort  of 
'  religious '  instruction  you  have  provided." 

"  I  had  only  finished  one  question,"  I  replied,  "  when 
you  came  in :  but  I  almost  think  it  may  be  considered 
a  *  Summa  Theologise'  of  itself.  It  is  this :  — 
/^  "  *  Can  you  tell  me,  child,  who  made  you  ? ' 
/  "  *  I  cannot,  certainly,  tell  who  made  me ;  neither 
can  my  father;  but  from  the  continual  misery,  confu- 
sion, and  doubt  which  I  feel  in  myself  and  see  around 
me,'  —  here  the  little  pupil  is  to  be  cautioned  not  to 


SOME    LIGHT    ON    THE    MYSTERY.  105 

laugh ;  the  mirth  in  the  eye^  perhaps,  cannot  be  extin- 
guished, — '  I  am  led  to  doubt  whether  I  was  made  by- 
one  who  cares  for  me  or  takes  any  interest  in  me.' 
( Good  child.Y' 

A-s  I  looked  up,  after  reading  this  ^rs^i^rM^A  of  scep- 
tical theology,  I  observed  in  Harrington's  face  some- 
thing of  the  same  look  of  sorrow  which  I  had  noted  the 
day  before.  Suddenly  he  said,  as  if  to  prevent  any 
chance  recurrence  to  painful  topics  :  — 

"  I  very  gradually  became  a  doubter.  I  was  perhaps 
becoming  so  when,  two  years  ago,  I  became  an  idolater, 
and  my  idol  crumbled  to  pieces  at  my  feet.  That  tran- 
sient vision  of  the  beautiful  half  reclaimed  me  from  my 
doubts ;  the  darkness  of  the  succeeding  night  taught 
me  juster  views  of  the  miseries  of  man  and  the  incom- 
prehensible riddle  of  his  existence ;  and  I  half  blushed 
at  my  glimpse  of  selfish  happiness." 

So  saying,  he  suddenly  left  the  room.  Some  part  of 
the  mystery  I  felt  was  unravelled.  Alas!  the  logic  of 
the  head,  —  how  fatally  fortified  by  the  logic  of  the 
heart!  And  so,  thought  I  to  myself,  even  Harrington 
too  is  in  part  the  dupe  of  that  cunning  spirit  of  delusion 
which  in  various  forms  is  resolved  to  cast  God  and  a 
Redeemer  and  Immortality  out  of  the  universe,  in  com- 
pliment to  man's  wonderful  elevation,  purity,  unselfish- 
ness, and  philanthropy!  One  man  tells  me,  with  Shaftes- 
bury, that  he  does  not  want  any  "immortal  hopes," 
or  any  such  "  bribes  "  of  "  prudence  "  to  make  him  vir- 
tuous or  religious,  —  delicate,  noble-minded  creature !  — 
that  he  can  serve  and  love  God  equally  well,  though  he 
were  sure  of  being  annihilated  to-morrow  morning! 
Another  declares  that  he  would  not  accept  heaven  itself 
Jf  purchased  by  a  single  pang,  voluntary  or  involuntary, 
endured  by  any  other  being  in  God's  universe  ?  Anoth- 
er swears  that  such  is  hife  sympathetic  benevolence,  that 


106  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

he  "  would  not  accept  that  same  heaven  if  he  thought 
any  other  being  was  to  be  shut  out  of  it";  I  wonder 
whether  he  condescends  to  accept  any  blessing  now^ 
while  a  single  fellow-creature  remains  destitute  of  it? 
A  fourth  (a  lady  too)  declares  "  there  is  no  theory  of  a 
God,  of  an  author  of  nature,  of  an  origin  of  the  universe, 
which  is  not  utterly  repugnant  to  her  faculties,  which  is 
not  (to  her  feelings)  so  irreverent  as  to  make  her  blush, 
so  misleading  as  to  make  her  mourn  ";  and  now  Har- 
rington, instead  of  being  thankful  for  his  glimpse  of 
happiness,  and  yielding  to  the  better  instincts  and  con- 
victions it  partly  awakened,  and  learning  patience,  sub- 
mission, and  faith  under  his  shattered  hopes,  is  taken 
captive  on  the  same  weak  side ;  and  (all  unconscious 
that  he  shares  in  the  prophet's  feeling,  "  I  do  well  to 
be  angry")  fancies  that  "his  present  gloom  is  more  truly 
in  unison  with  the  condition  of  the  universe,  and  that 
he  is  bound  to  be  most  philanthropically  misanthropical. 
O,  well  does  the  Book  say  of  this  heart  of  ours, 
"  Deceitful  above  all  things  " !  Such  are  our  min- 
gled follies  and  wickedness,  so  ludicrous,  so  sorrowful, 
are  the  features  presented  in  this  great  tragi-coraedy, 
—  The  life  of  Man,  —  that  it  is  impossible  to  play 
consistently  either  Democritus  or  Heraclitus. 


July  9.  Mr.  Fellowes  returned  this  morning.  We  had 
a  very  pleasant  day,  —  theology  being  excluded.  In 
the  evening  my  companions  were  again  pleased  to  dis- 
turb my  occupations ;  but  it  was  only  a  short  skirmish. 
Fellowes  was  endeavoring  to  enlighten  his  friend  re- 
specting the  mysteries  of  "belief"  and  "faith,"  as 
expounded  by  some  of  his  favorite  writers:  he  con- 
tended, (making  that  sheer  separation  between  "the 
intellectual"  and  "spiritual/*  which  so  many  of  the 


BELIEF    AND    FAITH.  107 

spiritual  school  affect,)  not  only  that  there  may  be  cor- 
rect belief  without  true  faith,  which,  in  an  intelligible 
sense,  few  will  deny ;  but  that  there  may  be  a  true 
faith  with  a  false  belief,  or  even  with  none,  in  the  strict 
sense  of  the  word.  Referring  to  a  recent  acute  writer 
in  one  of  our  religious  periodicals,  he  argued  that  be- 
lief is  properly  an  intellectual  process,  founded  on  a 
presumed  preponderance  of  reasons  or  supposed  reasons, 
for  it ;  and  that  whether  those  reasons  amount  to  dem- 
onstration, or  whether  the  scale  be  turned  by  a  grain, 
matters  not ;  the  product  is  purely  logical,  and  has  no 
more  to  do  with  "  faith  "  than  a  "  belief"  in  any  prop- 
osition of  Euclid. 

"But,  at  all  events^"  he  proceeded,  "  whether  you 
choose  to  call  some  of  these  acts  of  reason  by  the  name 
of  belief  or  not,  faith  is  something  quite  independent  of 
it.  As  Mr.  Newmati  says,  in  his  '  Phases,'  *  Belief  is 
one  thing  and  faith  another ' :  *  belief  is  purely  intellect- 
ual; faith  is  properly  spiritual.'  *  Nowhere  from  any 
body  of  priests,  clergy,  or  ministers,  as  an  order,  is  re- 
ligious progress  to  be  anticipated  till  intellectual  creeds 
are  destroyed,^  See,  too,  how  tenderly  he  speaks  even 
of  atheism.  '  I  do  not  know,'  he  says,  '  how  to  avoid 
calling  this  a  moral  error ;  but  I  must  carefully  guard 
against  seeming  to  overlook  that  it  may  still  be  a  merely 
speculative  error,  which  ought  not  to  separate  our  hearts 
from  any  man.'  Similarly  he  charitably  restricts  '  idol- 
atry '  in  any  *  bad  sense '  to  a  voluntary  worshipping  of 
what  the  worshipper  feels  not  to  deserve  his  adoration ; 
and  as  I,  for  one,  doubt  whether  this  is  ever  the  case, 
this  delightful  charity  is  comprehensive  indeed.  Mr. 
Parker's  discourse  is  full  of  the  same  beautiful  and  tol- 
erant maxims.     *  Each  religious  doctrine,'  he  says,  '  has 

some  time  stood  for  a  truth Each  of  these  forms 

of  religion  (polytheism  and  fetichism,  to  wit)  did  the 


108  THE    ECLIPSE    OF   FAITH. 

I  world  service  in  its  day.'  No  one  form  of  religion  u 
^  absolutely  true;  faith  may  be  compatible  with  them  all." 

"  Let  me  understand  you,  if  possible,"  said  Har- 
rington ;  "  for  at  present  I  fear  I  do  not.  That  there 
may  be  belief  without  faith  in  a  very  intelligible  sense, 
I  can  understand.  You  say  there  can  be  faith  without 
\  \  belief,  and  a  true  faith  that  is  connected  with  any  be- 
lief, however  erroneous,  do  you  not  ?  " 

"  Provided  it  contains  the  absolute  religion." 

"  Well,  and  even  the  lowest  fetichism  does  that,  ac- 
cording to  Mr.  Parker,  whom  you  defend.  Now  this 
Protean /ai7A  is  what  I  do  not  understand." 

"  That,"  said  Fellowes,  "  I  can  easily  conceive ;  and, 
let  me  add,  no  sceptic  can  understand  it." 

"  I  see  no  reason  why  he  should  wo^,"  said  Harring- 
ton, laughing,  "  if,  as  you  and  Mr.  Newman  suppose, 
the  <  spiritual '  can  be  so  perfectly  divorced  from  the 
*  intellectual.'  According  to  your  reasoning,  the  atheist 
and  the  idolater  cannot  be  incapable  of  exercising  this 
mysterious  *  faith,'  —  when  their  errors  are  supposed 
purely  speculative, —  since  faith  has  nothing  to  do  with 
the  intellect ;  neither  therefore  ought  the  sceptic  to  be 
quite  beyond  the  pale  of  your  charity.  Nay,  his  in- 
tellect being  a  rasa  tabula  in  these  matters,  I  should 
think  he  is  in  more  favorable  circumstances  than  they 
can  be.  But,  seriously,  let  me  try,  if  possible,  to  fath- 
om this  curious  dogma,  —  I  beg  your  pardon,  —  senti- 
ment, I  mean.  Belief  without  faith  in  an  intelligible 
sense  (if  by  this  last  we  mean  a  condition  of  the  emo- 
tions or  affections),  I  can  understand;  though  if  the 
truth  believed  be  of  a  nature  to  excite  to  emotion  and 
to  dictate  action,  and  fail  to  do  so,  I  doubt  whether  men 
in  general  would  not  call  that  belief  spurious.  For  ex- 
ample, if  a  man,  on  being  told  that  his  house  was  on 
fire,  sat  still  in  his  neighbor's  chimney-corner,  and  took 


BELIEF    AND    FAITH.  109 

no  notice  of  the  matter,  most  persons  would  say  that 
his  assent  was  no  true  beliefs  for  it  did  not  produce  its 
effects^  did  not  produce  faith.     But  whether  faith  can 
ever  exist  independently  of  belief  —  whether  it  is  not 
always  involved  with  it,  —  and  whether  there  can  be  a 
faith  worth  a  farthing  that  is  not  based  on  a  true  belief,   / 
—  that  is  the  point  on  which  I  want  light.     If  I  under- / 
stand  you,  an  acceptable  faith  may  or  may  not  coexist! 
with  a  true  belief;  and  men  who  believe  in  Jupiter  or\ 
Jehovah,  in  one  God  or  a  thousand,  who  worship  the  \ 
sun,  or  an  idol,  or  a  cat,  or  a  monkey,  all  may  have  an ' 
equally  acceptable  faith." 

« I  affirm  it." 

"  That  as  there  maybe  belief  in  a  truth,without  faith, 
so  there  may  be  faith,  though  the  intellect  believes  in  a 
falsehood ;  —  that  faith j  in  fact,  is  independent  of  knowl- 
edge^ or  of  any  particular  condition  of  the  intellect  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  like  the  terms  in  which  you  express  the 
sentiment,  but  I,  for  one,  believe  it  substantially  cor- 
rect." 

"  Never  mind  the  form ;  I  am  quite  willing  to  em- 
ploy other  terms,  if  you  will  supply  them." 

"  Well,  then,"  said  Fellowes,  "  I  should  say,  with  Mr. 
Parker,  that  the  principle  of  true  faith  may  be  found  to 
coexist  with  the  grossest  and  most  hideous  misconcep- 
tions of  God,  while  the  absence  of  it  may  coexist  with 
the  truest  and  most  elevated  belief." 

"  That,  I  think,  comes  to  much  the  same  as  I  said. 
Now  about  the  latter  we  have  no  dispute.  It  is  the 
former  that  I  want  light  upon :  the  latter  only  shows 
that  a  belief,  which  ought  to  be  practical,  and  if  not 
practical  is  nothing,  is  but  a  species  of  hypocrisy ;  and, 
of  course,  I  have  nothing  to  say  for  it.  My  uncle  here, 
who  is  still  one  of  the  orthodox,  who  believes  that  an 
*  acceptable  faith '  and  a  belief  in  the  divinity  of  a  mon- 

10 


110  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

key  or  a  cat  are  somehow  quite  incompatible,  would  be 
among  the  first  to  acknowledge  the  latter  position.  He 
would  say,  *  No  doubt  there  has  often  been  such  a 
thing  as  "  dead  orthodoxy,"  —  a  creed  of  the  "  letter,"  — 
a  religion  exclusively  dependent  on  logic,  and  having 
nothing  to  do  with  the  feelings;  —  belief  that  is  not 
sublimated  into  faith  ;  —  a  system  of  arteries  and  veins 
infiltrated  with  some  colored  substance,  like  the  speci- 
mens in  an  anatomical  museum,  but  in  which  none  of 
the  lifeblood  of  religion  circulates.  But  surely,'  he 
would  say,  *  it  does  not  follow,  that,  because  there  has 
been  belief  without  faith,  there  is  or  can  be  any  faith 
independent  of  some  belief,  or  an  acceptable  faith  with- 
out a  true  belief.' " 

"  I  affirm,"  said  Fellowes,  "that  *  faith'  has  nothing 
to  do  with  the  intellect^but  is  a  state  of  the  affections 
exclusively.  I  affirm,  with  a  recent  acute  writer,  that 
there  is,  properly  speaking,  no  belief  at  all  that  is  dis- 
tinguishable from  reaso7U  For  what  is  meant  by  belief 
of  a  proposition,  but  the  receiving  that  proposition  as 
true  upon  evidence,  from  a  supposed  preponderance  of 
reasons  in  its  favor?  Now,  whether  that  preponder- 
ance be  a  ton  weight  or  a  single  grain,  down  goes  the 
balance,  and  reason  as  strictly  decides  that  it  is  to  be 
received  as  if  it  were  a  mathematical  demonstration. 
If  the  arguments,  whether  abstract  or  otherwise,  abso- 
lutely demonstrative  or  only  probable,  are  supposed  to 
be  exactly  balanced,  there  is  no  reason  for  deciding  in 
favor  of  one  side  more  than  the  other ;  and  there  is,  there- 
fore, no  belief,  for  the  very  reason  that  reason  cannot 
be  exercised." 

"  Very  well  indeed,"  said  Harrington,  "  so  far  as  it 
goes ;  but  I  forthwith  see,  that,  so  far  from  deriving  any 
benefit  from  this  ingenious  reasoning,  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  either  faith  or  belief:  belief  and  faith  have  both 


BELIEF    AND    FAITH.  Ill 

vanished  at  the  same  time ;  the  first  is  resolved  into 
reason,  and  the  second  becomes  impossible." 

"  Belief  may,"  said  Fellowes,  "  but  faith  never.  Its 
divine  beauty  is  all  the  brighter,  when  happily  divorced 
from  logic  and  syllogisms,  its  misalliance  with  which 
can  only  be  compared  to  that  cruel  punishment  by 
which  the  living  was  chained  to  the  dead.  Say  what 
you  will,  it  still  reigns  and  triumphs  in  the  soul  in  spite 
of  aU." 

"I  am  perfectly  convinced,"  said  Harrington,  "that 
the  modern  spiritualist  will  not  bring  his  '  faith '  into 
any  ignominious  slavery  to  intellect  or  syllogism.  But 
clear  up  my  doubts  if  you  can.  I  know  that  the  writers 
you  are  fond  of  quoting  very  generally  give  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  nature  of  faith  by  pointing  to  the  ingenuous 
trust  of  a  child  in  the  wisdom  and  kindness  of  a 
parent." 

"  They  do ;  and  is  it  not  a  beautiful  illustration  ? 
That  is  genuine  faith  indeed!" 

"  I  am  willing  to  take  the  illustration.  The  child 
has  faith,  we  see,  in  his  father's  superior  wisdom  and 
experienced  kindness." 

"  Yes." 

"  He  believes  them,  therefore." 

"  Certainly." 

"  But  belief  is  reason^ 

"  Certainly ;  but  f^ith  is  more  than  that." 

"  No  doubt ;  but  he  does  believe  these  things." 

"  Yes,  certainly." 

"  And  if  he  did  not  believe  them,  he  would  cease  to 
have  faith.  If,  for  instance,  he  be  convinced  that  his 
father  is  mad,  or  cruel,  or  unjust,  the  state  of  affec- 
tions which  you  call  faith  will  diminish,  and  at  last 
cease." 

"  Perhaps  so,"  said  Fellowes. 


112  THE^  OBCLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  Perhaps  so,  my  friend !  I  really  cannot  receive 
your  answer,  because  I  am  convinced  that  it  does  not 
express  your  sentiments." 

"  Weil,  I  believe  that  the  state  of  affection  which  we 
call  *  faith  '  would  be  impossible  under  such  circum- 
stances." 

"  But  belief  is  reason,^^ 

«  Yes." 

"  Must  we  not  say,  then,  that  the  child's  faith 
depends  on  the  condition  of  his  belief,  that  is,  on  his 
reason,  so  that  the  '  faith  '  is  possible  when  he  believes, 
and  so  long  as  he  believes,  that  his  father  is  wise  and 
kind,  but  is  impossible  when  he  believes,  and  as  soon  as 
he  believes,  the  contrary  ?  " 

«  Yes,  I  admit  thaV 

"It  appears,  then,  that  faith  in  this,  —  perhaps  the 
best  illustration  that  could  be  selected,  —  so  far  from 
being  a  state  of  the  affections  exclusive  of  the  intellect, 
is  not  exclusive  of  it,  but  absolutely  dependent  on  it, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  absolutely  dependent  on  belief,  and 
that  is  dependent  on  reason.  It  exists  in  connection 
with  it,  and  is  never  independent  of  it.  If  the  contrary 
be  affirmed,  I  doubt  whether  there  can  be  any  such 
thing  as  '  faith  '  in  the  world.  Belief  becomes  reason, 
and  faith,  having  nothing,  you  say,  to  do  with  the 
intellect,  becomes  impossible.  But  now  let  it  be  sup- 
posed (as,  indeed,  I  cannot  but  suppose)  that  so7ne 
belief,  that  is,  reason,  enlightened  or  not  (generally  the 
last),  is  involved  in  every  act  of  faith  ;  you  yet  affirm 
most  distinctly  that  it  is  a  state  of  the  affections  quite 
unconnected  with  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  any  intel- 
lectual propositions." 

"  I  do." 

"  It  ought  to  follow,  then,  that  it  matters  not  what  is 
the  object  of  belief,  provided  there  is  '  faith ' ;  and  this, 


BELIEF    AND    FAITH.  113 

if  you  observe^  is  very  much  what  the  language  of 
Mr.  Newman  would  imply,  while  it  is  the  very  essence 
of  Mr.  Parker's  teaching." 

"  You  mean  Father  Newman,  perhaps  ?  " 

"  Why  no,  I  did  not ;  but,  to  tell  you  the  truth,  I 
now  mean  either ;  there  not  appearing  to  me  much  dif- 
ference between  them  in  this  respect.  Whether  you 
worship  an  image  of  a  '  winking  virgin,'  or,  according  to 
the  other  Dromio,  the  '  ideal'  of  an  idolater,  —  whether 
(provided  always  it  be  with  sincerity  and  trust !)  you 
adore  the  Jehovah  of  the  Hebrews,  or  *  the  image 
which  fell  down  from  Jupiter,'  ought  to  make,  upon 
this  theory,  no  great  difference." 

"  W^:ll,  in  whatever  difficulty  the  controversy  may 
involve  us,  can  we  deny  this  conclusion  ?  " 

"  Truly,"  replied  Harrington,  "  I  think  it  does  not 
involve  me  in  any  difficulty  ;  it  shows  me  that,  if  this  be 
the  *  faith '  to  which  you  attach  so  much  importance,  it 
really  is  not  worth  the  powder  and  shot  that  must  be 
expended  in  the  controversy.  For  my  own  part,  I  do 
not  hesitate  to  say  that  I  would  rather  be  absolutely 
destitute  of  '  faith '  altogether,  than  exercise  the  most 
absolute  faith  ever  bestowed  upon  a  tawdry  ii^iage  of 
the  Virgin,  or  some  misshapen  beast  of  an  idol  of  Hin- 
doo or  Hottentot  workmanship." 

"  Ah !  my  friend,"  cried  Fellowes,  "  do  not  thus  blas- 
pheme the  most  holy  feelings  of  humanity,  ho\\/ever 
misapplied! " 

*•  I  do  not  conceive  that  I  do,  in  declaring  abhorrence 
and  contempt  of  such  perversions  of '  sentiment,'  however 
*  holy '  you  may  call  them.  Hideous  as  they  are,  how- 
ever, they  are  less  hideous  than  the  half-length  apologies 
for  them  on  the  part  of  cultivated  and  civilized  human 
beings,  like  our  '  spiritual '  infidels.  Your  tenderness  is 
ludicrously   mi  splaced.      I  wonder  whether  the  same 

10* 


114  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

apology  would  extend  to  those  exercises  of  simple- 
minded  '  faith '  in  which  it  is  said  that  the  Spanish 
and  Portuguese  pirates  sometimes  indulged,  when  they 
implored  the  benediction  of  their  saints  on  their  preda- 
tory expeditions !  And  yet  I  see  not  how  it  could  be 
avoided  ;  for  the  exorbitancies  of  these  pirates  were  not 
more  hateful  to  humanity  than  are  the  rites  practised, 
and  the  duties  enjoined,  by  many  forms  of  religion. 
What  delightful,  ingenuous  '  faith '  and  genuine  '  sim- 
plicity '  of  mind  did  these  pirates  manifest ! " 

"  How  can  you  talk  so,  when  we  make  it  a  mark  of  a 
false  revelation,  that  it  contradicts  any  intuition  of  our 
moral  nature  ?  " 

"  Then  cease  to  talk  of  your  *  absolute  religion,'  as  ca- 
pable in  any  way  of  consecrating  the  hateful  forms  of 
false  and  cruel  superstition  for  which  you  and  Mr.  Par- 
ker condescend  to  be  the  apologists.  The  fanaticism  of 
such  pious  and  devout  beasts  as  those  saint-loving  pi- 
rates is  not  a  more  flagrant  violation  of  the  principles  of 
morality,  than  the  acts  which  flow  directly  as  the  imme- 
diate and  natural  expression  of  the  infinitely  varied  but 
all-polluting  forms  of  idolatry  with  which  you  are  pleased 
to  identify  your  '  absolute  religion,'  and  in  all  of  which 
you  suppose  an  acceptable  *  faith  '  to  be  very  possible. 
You  see  how  Mr.  Parker  extends  the  apology  to  the 
foulest  acts  of  his  Tartar  and  Calmuck  scoundrels ;  acts 
called  murders  in  the  codes  of  Christendom  and  civiliza- 
tion, but  varnished  over  by  the  beautiful  '  faith  '  which 
somehow  still  lurks  under  the  most  frightful  practices 
of  a  simple-minded  barbarian.  If  this  faith  will  shelter 
the  abominations  of  a  gross  idolatry,  I  see  not  what  else 
it  may  not  sanctify. —  But,  in  fact,  neither  in  the  case 
of  idolaters,  nor  any  other  religionists,  is  it  true  that 
*  faith '  is  independent  of  *  belief ' ;  in  the  case  of  your 
Calmuck,  for  example,  the  *  belief '  is  vile,  and  there- 


iv^V 


i 


<^\  <<-uUv        '.[  -J —       r^jO    uy>JM(^»^ 


BELIEF    AND    FAITH.  115 

fore  Ihe  *  faith '  vile  too  ;    faith  practical  enough,  cer-  ) 
tainly,  but  one  that  as  certainly  does  not   'work   by    1 
love  ' ;  and  which,  I  think,  would  be  well  exchanged  for  J 
a  dead  orthodoxy,  or  any  thing  else." 

It  is  not  difficult  to  see  the  source  of  the  fallacy  into 
which  Mr.  Fellowes  had  fallen.  It  lies  in  the  attempt  to 
make  a  distinction  m  fact^  as  well  as  in  theory^  between 
the  "intellectual"  and  "emotional"  parts  of  our  nature. 
It  is  very  well  for  the  spiritual  and  mental  analyst  to 
consider  separately  the  several  principles  which  con- 
stitute humanity,  and  which  act,  and  react,  and  inter- 
act, in  endless  involution.  That  there  may  be  acts  of 
belief  that  terminate  chiefly  in  the  intellect,  and  may 
be  wholly  worthless,  who  denies?  The  drunkard,  for 
example,  may  admit  that  sobriety  is  a  duty ;  but  yet,  if 
he  gets  drunk  every  night  of  his  life,  we  shall,  of  course, 
think  little  of  that  act  of  belief,  —  of  his  daily  repetition 
of  moral  orthodoxy.  In  the  same  manner,  a  man  may 
admit  that  it  is  his  duty  to  exercise  implicit  love,  grati- 
tude, and  obedience  towards  the  great  object  of  wor- 
ship ;  but  if  his  habitual  conduct  shows  that  he  has  no 
thought  of  acting'  in  accordance  with  this  maxim,  he 
must  be  regarded,  in  spite  of  the  orthodoxy  of  his  spec- 
ulative creed,  as  no  better  than  a  heathen ;  or  worse. 

But  though  it  is  very  possible  that  a  true  belief  may 
not  involve  true  faith,  does  the  converse  follow,  —  that 
therefore  true  faith  is  essentially  different  from  it,  and 
independent  of  it?  All  history  shows,  that  when  re- 
hgion  is  practical  at  all, — that  is,  issues  in  faith, — 
such  faith  is  as  the  truth  or  falsehood  believed;  the 
emotional  and  active  conditions  of  the  soul  are  colored, 
as  usual,  by  knowledge  and  intellect.  These,  again,  are 
not  independent  of  the  will  and  the  affections,  as  we 
all  familiarly  know.     And  hence  the  fallacy  of  suppos- 


116  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

ing  that  no  man-  is  to  be  thought  better  or  worse  for  his 
"  intellectual  creed."  His  "  creed  "  may  be  his  "  crime  "  ; 
and  surely  none  ought  to  see  this  more  clearly  than 
the  writers  who  deny  it;  for  why  their  eternal  invec- 
tives against  "dogmas,"  —  and  especially  the  tolerably 
universal  dogma  that  men  are  responsible  for  the  for- 
mation of  their  opinions,  —  except  upon  the  suppo- 
sition that  men  are  responsible  for  framing  and  main- 
taining them?  If  they  are  not,  men  should  be  left 
alone;  if  they  are,  they  are  to  be  thought  of  as  "worse 
and  better  "  for  their  "  intellectual  creed." 

Before  the  conclusion  of  the  conversation,  Mr.  Fel- 
lowes  asked  me  for  my  opinion. 

"  If,"  said  I,  "  faith  be  defined  independent  of  an  act 
of  intellect,  then  I  think,  with  our  sceptical  friend  here, 
there  can  be  no  such  thing  at  all.  For  I  neither  know 
nor  can  conceive  of  any  such  unreasonable  exercise  of 
the  emotions  or  affections.  If  it  be  meant,  on  the  other 
j  hand,  that,  though  some  act  of  the  intellect  be  indeed 
'  uniformly  involved,  yet  that  it  matters  not  what  it  is, 
and  that  faith  does  not  take  its  complexion,  as  of  moral 
value,  from  it,  then  I  also  think,  with  Harrington,  that 
it  is  impossible  to  deny  that  such  a  doctrine  will  sanc- 
tify any  sort  of  worship,  and  any  sort  of  deity,  provided 
jmen  be  sincere ;  are  you  prepared  to  contend  for  so 
much?" 

Mr.  Fellowes  put  an  adroit  objection  here.  "  Why," 
said  he,  "  you  will  not  deny,  surely,  that  even  Scripture 
often  commends,  as  good,  a  faith  which  is  founded  on 
a  very  imperfect  conception  of  the  spiritual  realities  to 
which  it  is  directed  ?  " 

"  It  is  ingeniously  put,  I  admit.  I  grant  that  there 
are  here,  as  in  so  many  other  cases,  limits  which, 
though  it  may  not  be  very  easy  to  assign  them,  as 
plainly  exis»t.     But  that  does  not  answer  my  question 


BELIEF    AND    FAITH.  117 

I  want  to  know  whether  the  principle  is  to  be  applied 
without  limits  at  all,  as  your  speculative  theory  de- 
mands? In  other  words,  will  it  or  not  sanctify  acts 
of  the  most  degrading  and  pernicious  idolatry,  of  the 
most  debasing  superstition,  because  allied  to  that  state 
of  the  affections  in  which  you  make  the  essence  of  faith 
consist?  If  it  will  not,  then  your  objection  to  me  is 
nothing;  it  merely  asks  me  to  assign  limits  within 
which  the  exercise  of  the  affection  in  question  may  be 
acceptable,  or  almost  equally  acceptable,  in  cases  of  a 
partially  enlightened  understanding.  If  it  will,  then  it 
leaves  you  open,  as  I  conceive,  and  fairly  open,  to  all 
the  objections  which  have  been  so  brusquely  urged 
against  you  by  your  friend,  in  whose  indignant  protest 
against  the  detestable  apologies  for  the  lowest  forms 
of  religious  degradation,  in  which  so  many  *  spiritual ' 
writers  indulge,  I  for  one  heartily  sympathize." 

I  ventured  to  add,  that  the  account  of  "faith"  as  a 
state  of  the  emotions  exclusively,  given  by  some  of  his 
favorite  writers,  is  perfectly  arbitrary.  "  Belief,"  say 
they,  "is  wholly  intellectual:  faith  is  wholly  moral." 
Now  it  would  be  of  very  little  consequence,  if  the 
terms  be  generally  so  understood,  whether  they  be  so 
used  or  not;  men  would,  in  that  case,  suppose  that 
faith,  thus  restricted,  implies  a  previous  process  of  mind 
which  is  to  be  called  exclusively  belief,  I  added,  how 
ever,  that  I  did  not  believe  that  the  word  faith  was  ever 
thus  understood  in  popular  use ;  but  that,  on  the  con- 
trary, lb  was  employed  to  imply  belief  founded  on 
knowledge,  or  supposed  knowledge,  and,  where  the  be- 
lief was,  in  its  very  nature,  practical,  or  involved  emo- 
tion, a  conduct  and  a  state  of  the  affecUons  correspond- 
ing thereto.  "But  this,"  said  I,  "merely  respects  the 
popular  use  of  the  words,  and  it  is  hardly  worth  while 
to  prolong  discussion  on  it.  As  to  the  reasoning  which 
would  show  that  belief  does  not  properly  exist  at  all, 


118  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

because  it  may  be  all  resolved  into  reason^  founded  on 
the  preponderance  of  evidence,  where  it  does  not  matter 
whether  that  preponderance  be  a  ton  or  a  scruple, — 
surely  it  is  over-refined.  Men  will  always  feel  that 
there  is  a  marked  difference  between  the  states  of  mind 
in  which  they  assent  to  a  proposition  of  which  they 
have  no  more  doubt  than  they  have  of  their  own  exist- 
ence, or  to  a  proposition  in  the  mathematics,  and  to 
one  in  which  they  feel  that  only  a  few  grains  turn  the 
scale.  Ta  this  conscious  difference  in  the  condition  of 
mind,  they  have  given  (and  I  suppose  will  continue  to 
give)  very  different  names ;  and  though  they  will  not 
say  that  they  believe  that  two  and  two  make  four,  but 
that  they  knoio  it,  they  will  say  that  they  believe  that 
they  will  die  before  the  end  of  the  century,  though  they 
will  not  say  that  they  knoiv  that.  The  distinction  be- 
tween the  certain  and  the  probable  is  felt  to  be  far  too 
important  not  to  be  marked  by  corresponding  varieties 
of  speech ;  and  speech  has  made  them  accordingly." 


July  10.  This  morning  Harrington  fulfilled  his  prom- 
ise of  acquainting  me  with  a  few  of  the  principal  reasons 
which  prevented  his  taking  refuge  in  the  "  half-way 
houses  "  between  the  Bible  and  Religious  Scepticism. 
Mr.  Fellowes  was  an  attentive  listener.  Harrington 
had  entitled  his  paper,  — 

Reasons  for  declining  the  Via  Media  between 
Revealed  Religion  and  Atheism, —  or  Scepti- 
cism; with  special  Reference  to  the  Theories 
OP  Mr.  Theodore  Parker  and  Mr.  Francis  New- 
man. 

I  shall  be  brief;  not  being  solicitious  to  suggest 
doubts  to  others,  but  merely  to  justify  my  own. 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  119 

Both  Mr.  Parker  and  Mr.  Newman  make  themselves 
very  merry  with  a  "  book-revelation,"  as  they  call  it  ; 
and  if  they  had  given  me  any  thing  better,  —  more 
rational  or  more  certain  than  the  Bible,  —  how  gladly 
could  I  have  joined  in  the  ridicule !  As  it  is,  I  doubt 
the  solidity  of  the  theories  they  support,  and  hardly 
doubt  that,  if  the  principles  on  which  they  reject  the 
Bible  be  sound,  they  ought  to  go  much  farther.  Both 
affirm  the  absurdity_  of. ja.  special  external  revelation  to 
man  ;  both,  that  the  fountain  of  spiritual  illumination  is 
exclusively  from  ivithin,  and  not  from  jwithout.  A  few 
brief  citations  will  set  this  point  in  a  clear  light.  "  Re- 
ligion itself,"  says  Mr.  Parker,  "  must  be  the  same  thing 
in  each  man;  not  a  siviilar  thing,  but  just  the  same; 
differing  only  in  degree."  *  "  The  Idea  of  God,  as  a  fact 
given  in  man's  nature,  is  permanent  and  alike  in  all ; 
while  the  sentiment  of  God,  though  vague  and  myste- 
rious, is  always  the  same  in  itself."  f  "  Of  course,  then, 
there  is  no  difference  but  of  words  between  revealed 
Religion  and  natural  Religion  ;  for  all  actual  Religion 
is  revealed  in  us,  or  it  could  not  be  felt."  J  The  Abso- 
lute Religion,  which  he  affirms  to  be  universally  known, 
he  defines  as  "  Voluntary  Obedience  to  the  Law  of  God, 
—  inward  and  outward  Obedience  to  that  law  he  has 
written  on  our  nature,  revealed  in  various  ways  through 
Instinct,  Reason,  Conscience,  and  the  Religious  Senti- 
ment." §  Similarly,  Mr.  Newman  says,  ^^What  God 
reveals  to  us  he  reveals  within,  through  the  medium  of 
our  moral  and  spiritual  senses."  ||  "  Christianity  itself 
has  practically  confessed,  what  is  theoretically  clear," 
— you  must  take  his  word  for  both,  •  >-  "  that  an  authori- 
tative external  revelation  of  moral  and  spiritual  truth 

*  Discourses  of  Matters  pertaining  to  Keligion,  p.  36. 

tibid.  p.  21.  JIbid.  p.  33. 

§  Ibid.  p.  34.  11  Soul,  p.  59. 


120  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

is  essentially  impossible  to  man."  *     "  No  book-revela 
tion  can  (without  sapping  its  own  pedestal)  authorita 
tively  dictate  laws  of  human  virtue,  or  alter  our  a  pri- 
ori view  of  the  Divine  character."  f 

"  Happy  race  of  men,  one  is  ready  to  exclaim,  with 
this  Idea  of  God,  one  and  the  same  in  all ;  this  "  Abso- 
lute Religion,"  which  is  also  "universal";  this  internal 
revelation,  which  supersedes,  by  anticipating,  all  possible 
disclosures  of  an  external  revelation,  and  renders  it  an 
"impertinence."  Men  in  all  ages  and  nations  must 
exhibit  a  delightful  unanimity  in  their  religious  notions, 
sentiments,  and  practices ! 

They  would  do  so,  cries  Mr.  Parker ;  but  unhappily, 
though  the  "idea"  of  God  is  "one  and  the  same,  and 
perfect"  in  all  "when  the  proper  conditions  "  are  com- 
plied with,  yet  practically^  in  the  majority  of  cases, 
these  proper  "conditions  are  not  observed";  J  "the 
conception,  which  men  universally  form  of  God,  is 
always  imperfect,  sometimes  self-contradictory  and  im- 
possible"; "the  primitive  simplicity  and  beauty"  of 
the  "  idea "  are  lost.  And  thus  it  is,  he  tells  us,  that, 
owing  to  this  awkward  "  conception,"  the  vast  majority 
of  the  human  race  have  been,  and  are,  and  for  ages  will 
be,  sunk  in  the  grossest  Fetichism,  —  Polytheism,  —  and 
every  form  of  absurd  and  misshapen  Monotheism;  — 
the  horrors  of  all  which  he  proceeds  faithfully,  but  not 
too  faithfully,  to  describe,  and  sometimes,  when  he  is 
in  the  mood,  to  soften  and  extenuate ;  in  order  that  he 
may  find  that  the  "  grim  Calmuck,"  and  even  the  sav- 
age, "  whose  hands  are  smeared  over  with  the  blood  of 
human  sacrifices,"  are  yet  in  possession  of  the  "  abso- 
lute Idea"  and  the  "absolute  religion." 

And  what  must  we  infer  from  Mr.  Newman  ?     The 

*  Soul,  p.  59.  t  Ibid.  p.  58.  %  Discourses,  p.  19. 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  ^J||t|> 

unanimity  anticipated  would,  doubtless,  be  obtained, 
only  til atj -unfortunately,  there  are  various  principles  pf 
man's  nature  which  traverse  the  legitimate  action  and 
impede  the  due  development  of  the  "  spiritual  faculty  " ; 
and  so  man  is  apt  to  wander  into  a  variety  of  those 
"  degraded  types  "  of  religious  development,  which  the 
dark  panorama  of  this  world's  religions  has  ever  pre- 
sented to  us,  and  presents  still.  "  Awe,"  "  wonder," 
"  admiration,"  "  sense  of  order,"  "  sense  of  design,'^ 
may  all  mislead  the  unhappy  "  spiritual  faculty  "  into 
quagmires ;  and,  in  point  of  fact,  have  wheedled  and 
corrupted  it  ten  thousand  times  more  frequently  than 
it  has  hallowed  tlie7n.  This  all  history,  past  and  present, 
shows. 

It  is  certainly  unfortunate,  and  as  mysterious,  that 
those  unlucky  "  conceptions  "  of  God  should  have  the 
best  of  it, — or  rather,  that  the  ^Hdea^^  of  God  should 
have  the  worst  of  it ;  nor  less  so  that  Awe,  E-everence, 
and  so  forth,  should  thus  put  the  "  spiritual  faculty  "  so 
hopelessly  hors  de  combat. 

Nevertheless,  two  questions  naturally  suggest  them- 
selves. Since  the  destructive  "  conceptions "  have  al- 
most everywhere  impaired  the  "  Idea,"  and  the  "  de- 
graded types  "  seduced  the  "  spiritual  faculty,"  —  1st. 
What  proof  have  we  that  man  has  an  original  and 
universal  fountain  of  spiritual  illumination  in  himself? 
and  2dly.  If  he  have,  but  under  such  circumstances,  is 
its  utility  so  unquestionable  that  no  space  is  left  for  the 
offices  of  an  external  revelation  ? 

First.  What  is  the  evidence  of  the  uniform  exist- 
ence in  man  of  any  such  definite  faculty  ? 

When  we  say  that  any  principle  or  faculty  is  com- 
mon to  the  whole  species,  do  we  not  make  the  proof 
of  this  depend  upon  the  uniformity  of  the  phenomena 
which  exhibit  it?  When  we  say,  for  example,  that 
11 


122  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

hunger  and  thirst  are  universal  appetites,  is  it  not  be- 
cause we  find  them  universal  ?  or  if  we  say  that  the 
senses  of  sight  and  hearing  are  characteristic  of  the 
race,  do  we  not  contend  that  these  are  so,  because  we 
find  them  uniform  in  such  an  immense  variety  of  in- 
stances, that  the  exceptions  are  not  worth  reckoning  ? 
If  men  sometimes  saw  black  where  others  saw  white, 
some  objects  rectilinear  which  others  saw  curved,  some 
objects  small  which  others  saw  large,  —  nay,  the  very 
same  men  at  different  times  seeing  the  same  objects 
differently  colored,  and  of  varying  forms  and  magni- 
tudes, and  every  second  man  almost  stone-blind  into  the 
bargain,  —  I  rather  think,  that,  instead  of  saying  that  all 
men  were  endowed  with  one  and  the .  same  power  of 
vision,  we  should  say  that  our  nature  exhibited  only  an 
imperfect  and  rudimentary  tendency  towards  so  desira- 
ble a  faculty ;  but  that  a  clear,  uniform,  well-defined 
faculty  of  vision  there  certainly  was  not.  As  I  gaze 
upon  the  spectacle  of  the  infinite  diversities  of  religion, 
which  variegate,  but,  alas!  do  not  beautify  the  world, 
what  is  there  to  remind  me  of  that  uniformity  of  result, 
of  which  I  do  see  the  indelible  traces  in  every  faculty 
really  characteristic  of  our  nature;  as,  for  example,  in 
our  senses  and  our  appetites  ?  Powerfully  does  Hume 
urge  this  argument  in  his  "  Natural  History  of  Relig- 
ions." * 

I  have  my  doubts  —  admire  the  modesty  of  a  sceptic 
—  whether  the  entire  phenomena  of  religion  do  not 
favor  the  conclusion,  that  man,  in  this  respect,  exhibits 
only  the  traces  of  an  imperfect,  truncated  creature ;  that 
he  is  in  the  predicament  of  the  half-created  lion  so 
graphically  described  by  Milton  :  — 

"  Now  half  appeared 
The  tawny  lion,  pawing  to  get  free 
His  hinder  parts"; 

•  Introduction. 


.      THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  123 

only,  unfortunately,  man^s  "  hinder  parts  "  —  his  lower 
nature  —  have  come  up  first,  and  appear,  unhappily, 
prominent ;  while  his  nobler  "  moral  and  spiritual  fac- 
ulties "  still  seem  stuck  in  the  dust ! 

There  is,  indeed,  another  hypothesis,  which  squares, 
perhaps,  equally  well  with  the  phenomena,  —  I  mean 
that  of  the  Bible; — that  man  is  not  in  his  original 
state ;  that  the  religious  constitution  of  his  nature,  in 
some  way  or  other,  has  received  a  shock.  But  either 
this,  or  the  supposition  that  man  has  been  insufficiently 
equipped  for  the  uniform  elimination  of  religious  truth, 
is,  I  think,  alone  in  harmony  with  the  facts ;  and  to 
those  facts,  patent  on  the  page  of  the  whole  world's 
history,  I  appeal  for  proof  that  man  has  not,  on  these 
highest  subjects,  the  certitude  of  any  internal  revelation, 
marked  by  the  remotest  analogy  to  those  other  un- 
doubted principles  and  faculties  which  exhibit  them- 
selves with  undeniable  uniformity. 

It  will  perhaps  be  said,  that  the  spiritual  phenomena 
are  not  so  uniform  as  those  of  sense,  —  as  Mr.  Parker 
and  Mr.  Newman  both  abundantly  admit,  —  but  that 
there  is  an  approximate  uniformity.  And  you  must 
seek  it,  says  Mr.  Parker,  in  the  "  Absolute  Religion" 
which  animates  every  form  of  religion,  and  is  equally 
found  in  all.  I  know  he  chatters  about  this  inces- 
santly ;  but  when  I  attempt  thus  to  "  hunt  the  one  in 
the  many,"  as  Plato  would  call  it,  —  to  seek  the  elusive 
unity  in  the  infinite  multiform,  —  to  discover  v/hat  it  is 
which  equally  embalms  all  forms,  from  the  Christianity 
of  Paul  to  the  religion  of  the  "  grim  Calmuck,"  I  ac- 
knowledge myself  as  much  at  a  loss  as  Martinus  in 
endeavoring  to  catch  the  abstraction  of  a  Lord  Mayor  ; 
Mr.  Parker,  on  the  other  hand,  is  like  Crambe,  "  who, 
to  show  his  acuteness,  swore  that  he  could  form  an  ab- 
straction of  a  Lord  Mayor,  not  only  without  his  horse, 


124  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

gown,  and  gold  chain,  but  even  without  stature,  feature, 
color,  hands,  head,  feet,  or  any  body,  which  he  supposed 
was  the  abstract  of  a  Lord  Mayor."  Or  if  it  be  vain 
to  attenapt  to  abstract  this  Absolute  Religion  from  all 
religions,  as  Mr.  Parker  indeed  admits,  —  though  it  is 
truly  in  them,  —  and  I  take  his  definition  from  his 
"direct  consciousness," — which  direct  consciousness 
we  can  see  has  been  directly  affected  by  his  abjured 
Bible,  —  namely,  "  that  it  is  voluntary  obedience  to  the 
will  of  God,  outward  and  inward,"  ■ —  why,  what  on 
earth  does  this  vague  generality  do  for  us  ?  What  sort 
of  God  ?  Is  he  or  it  one  or  many  ?  Of  infinite  attri- 
butes or  finite  ?  of  goodness  and  mercy  equal  to  his 
power,  or  not  ?  What  is  his  will  ?  Hovj  is  he  to  be 
worshipped  ?  Have  we  offended  him  ?  Is  he  placable 
or  not  ?  Is  he  to  be  approached  only  through  a  media- 
tor of  some  kind,  as  nearly  all  mankind  have  believed, 
but  which  Mr.  Parker  denies,  —  a  queer  proof,  by  the 
way,  of  the  clearness  of  the  internal  oracle,  if  he  be 
right,  —  or  is  Jae  to_be  approached,  as  Mr.  Parker  be- 
lieves, and  Mr.  Newman  with  him,  without  any  media- 
tor at  all  ?  Is  it  true  that  man  is  immortal,  and  knows 
it  by  immediate  "  insight,"  as  Mr.  Parker  contends,  or 
does  the  said  "  insight,"  as  Mr.  Newman  believes,  tell 
us  nothing  about  the  matter  ?  Surely  the  "  Absolute 
Religion,"  after  having  removed  from  it  all  in  which 
different  religions  differ,  is  in  danger  of  vanishing  into 
that  imperfect  susceptibility  of  some  religion,  which  I 
have  already  conceded,  and  which  is  certainly  not  such 
a  thing  as  to  render  an  external  revelation  very  ob- 
viously superfluous.  It  may  be  summed  up  in  one 
imperfect  article.  All  men  and  each  may  say,  "  I  be- 
lieve there  is  some  being,  superior  in  some  respects  to 
man,  whom  it  is  my  duty  or  my  interest  to  "  — ccetera 
desunt. 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  125 

To  affirm  that  every  man  has  this  "  Absolute  Relig- 
ion" without  external  revelation,  is  much  as  if  a  man 
were   to   say  that  we  have  an  "  Absolute  Philosophy" 
on  the  same  terms,  in  virtue  of  man's  having  faculties 
which  prompt  him  to  philosophize  in  some  way.     All 
religions  contain  the  Absolute  Religion,  says  Mr.  Par- 
ker :  Just,  I  reply,  as  all  philosophies  contain  the  abso- 
lute philosophy.     The  philosophy  of  Plato,  of  Aristotle 
of  Bacon,  of  Locke,  of  Leibnitz,  of  Reid,  are  all  philoso- 
phies, no  doubt ;  but  that  is  all  that  is  to  be  said.     Even 
contraries  must  resemble  one  another  in  one  point,  or 
they  could  not  be  contrasted.     In  truth,  there  is,  I  think, 
a  striking  analogy  between  man's  spiritual  and  intellec- 
tual condition ;  only  his  intellect  is  a  little  less  variable 
than  his  "  spiritual  faculty  "  ;  far  more  so,  however,  than 
his  senses.     His  animal  nature  is  more  defined  than  his— 7 
intellectual,  his  intellectual  than  his  spiritual  and  moral.    / 
All  the  phenomena  point  either  to  an  imperfect  organi-  / 
zation  of  his  nobler  faculties,  or  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
"  Fall."  y 

But  further,  surely  if  this  internal  oracle  exists  in 
man,  every  sincere  and  earnest  soul,  on  interrogating  his 
consciousness,  would  hear  the  indubitable  response, — 
would  enjoy  the  beatYfic  vision  of  "  spiritual  insight." 
If  this  be  asserted,  I  for  one  have  to  say  to  this  repre- 
sentation, that,  so  far  as  my  own  consciousness  informs 
me,  I  have  honestly,  sincerely,  and  with  utmost  dili- 
gence, interrogated  my  spirit ;  and  I  solemnly  protest, 
that,  apart  from  those  external  influences  and  that  ex- 
ternal instruction  which  the  revelation  from  within  is 
supposed  to  anticipate  and  supersede,  I  am  not  con- 
scious that  I  should  have  any  of  the  sentiments  which 
either  of  these  writers  make  the  sum  of  religion.  Even 
as  to  that  fundamental  position,  —  the  existence  of  a 
Being  of  unlimited  power  and  wisdom,  (as  to  his  un- 
11* 

*^  «  r-  ■'-  v  ^v  'xr\ 


126  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

limited  g'oodnesSjlJ)e\\eye^^ti2.tja.Qih.ing  but  an  external 
revelation  can  absolutely  certify  us,)  I  feel  that  I  am 
much  more  indebted  to  those  inferences  from  design, 
which  these  writers  make  so  light  of,  than  to  any  clear- 
ness in  the  imperfect  intuition;  for  if  I  found  —  and 
surely  this  is  the  true  test  —  the  traces  of  design  less 
conspicuous  in  the  external  world,  confusion  there,  as  in 
the  moral,  and  in  both  greater  than  is  now  found  in 
either,  I  extremely  doubt  whether  the  faintest  surmise 
of  such  a  Being  would  have  suggested  itself  to  me. 
But  be  that  as  it  may ;  as  to  their  other  cardinal  senti- 
ments,—  the  nature  of  my  relations  to  this  Being, — 
his  placability,  if  offended,  —  the  terms  of  forgiveness, 
if  any,  —  whether,  as  these  gentlemen  affirm,  he  is  ac- 
cessible to  all,  without  any  atonement  or  mediator;  — 
as  to  all  this,  I  solemnly  declare,  that,  apart  from  exter- 
nal instruction,  I  cannot,  by  interrogating  my  racked 
spirit,  catch  ev^iiHa"  murmur.  That  it  must  be  faint, 
indeed,  in  other  men,  so  faint  as  to  render  the  preten- 
sions of  the  certitude  of  the  internal  revelation,  and  its 
independence  of  all  external  revelation,  perfectly  pre- 
posterous, I  infer  from  this,  —  that  they  have,  for  the 
most  part,  arrived  at  diametrically  opposite  conclusions 
from  those  of  these  interpreters  of  the  spiritual  revela- 
tion. As  to  the  articles,  indeed,  of  man's  immortality 
and  a  future  state,  it  would  be  truly  difficult  for  my 
"  spiritual  insight "  to  verify  theirs ;  for,  according  to 
Mr.  Parker,  his  "  insight "  affirms  that  man  is  immortal, 
and  Mr.  Newman's  "insight"  declares  nothing  about 
the  matter ! 

Nor  is  my  consciousness,  so  far  as  I  can  trace  it, 
mine  only.  This  painful  uncertainty  has  been  the  con- 
fession of  multitudes  of  far  greater  minds ;  they  have 
been  so  far  from  contending  that  we  have  naturally  a 
clear  utterance  on  these  great  questions,  that  they  have 


THE    "^lA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  127 

acknowledged  the  necessity  of  an  external  revelation ; 
and  mankind  in  general,  so  far  from  thinking  or  feeling 
such  light  superfluous,  have  been  constantly  gaping' 
after  it,  and  adopted  almost  any  thing  that  but  bore  the 
name. 

What,  then,  am  I  to  think  of  this  all-sufficient  reve- 
lation from  within  ? 

There  is,  indeed,  an  amusing  answer  of  Mr.  New- 
man's to  the  difficulty  ;  but  then  it  formally  surrenders 
the  whole  argument.  He  says  to  those  who  say  they 
are  unconscious  of  those  facts  of  spiritual  pathology 
which  he  describes  in  his  work  on  the  "  Soul,"  that  the 
consciousness  of  the  spiritual  man  is  not  the  less  true, 
that  the  unspiritual  man  is  not  privy  to  it;  and  this 
most  devout  gentleman  somewhere  quotes,  with  much 
unction,  the  words,  "  For  the  spiritual  man  judgeth  all 
things,  but  himself  is  judged  of  no  man." 

"  I  shall  be  curious  to  know,"  said  J,  interrupting 
him,  "  what  you  will  reply  to  that  argument? " 

Reply  to  it,  said  he,  eagerly  ;  does  it  require  any 
reply  ?  —  However,  I  will  read  what  I  have  written.  Is 
it  not  plain,  that  while  Mr.  Newman  is  professedly 
anatomizing  the  spiritual  nature  of  man,  as  man^  —  the 
functions  and  revelations  of  that  inward  oracle  which 
supersedes  and  anticipates  all  external  revelation, — 
he  is,  in  fact,  anatomizing  his  own?  What  title  has 
he,  when  avowedly  explaining  the  phenomena  of  the 
religious  faculty  which  he  asserts  to  be  inherent  in 
humanity,  —  though  how  they  should  need  explaining, 
if  his  theory  be  true,  I  know  not,  —  what  title  has  he, 
when  men  deny  that  they  are  conscious  of  the  facts  he 
describes,  to  take  refuge  in  his  own  private  revelations, 
and  that  of  the  few  whose  privilege  it  is  to  be  "  born 
again  "  by  a  mysterious  law  which  he  says  it  is  impos- 
sible for  us  to  investigate  ?     "  We  cannot  pretend,"  he 


129  fHB    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

says,  "to  sound  the  mystery  whence  comes  the  new 
birth  in  certain  souls.  To  reply,  *  The  Spirit  bloweth 
where  He  listeth,'  confesses  the  mystery,  and  declines 
to  explain  it.  But  it  is  evident  that  individuals  in 
Greece,  in  the  third  century  before  the  Christian  era, 
were  already  moving  towards  an  intelligent  heart- 
worship^  or  had  even  begun  to  practise  it ! "  * 

High  time,  I  think,  that  after  some  thousands  of 
years  some  few  individuals  should  begin  to  manifest 
the  phenomena  of  the  universal  revelation  from  vjithin, 
if  such  a  thing  be  ! 

This  is  not  to  delineate  the  religious  nature  of  hu- 
manity, but  to  reveal  —  yes,  and  to  reveal  externally 
—  the  religious  nature  of  the  elect  few,  —  and  few 
they  are  indeed,  —  who,  by  a  mysterious  infidel  Cal- 
vinism, are  permitted  to  attain,  by  direct  intuition, 
and  independent  of  all  external  revelation,  the  true 
sentiments  and  experiences  of  "  spiritual  insight."  It 
this  be  Mr.  Newman's  solution  of  our  difficulties,  it  is 
utterly  nugatory.  It  is  not  to  dissect  the  soul,  "its 
sorrows  and  aspirations " ;  it  is  merely  to  give  us  the 
pathology  —  perhaps  the  morbid  pathology  —  of  Mr. 
Newman's  soul,  its  sorrows  and  its  aspirations.  If  the 
answer  merely  respected  the  practical  value  of  a  theory 
of  spiritual  sentiments,  which  all  acknowledged,  then 
Mr.  Newman's  answer  might  have  some  force ;  for,  cer- 
tainly, only  he  who  reduced  that  theory  to  practice,  or 
attempted  to  do  so,  would  have  a  right  to  conclude 
against  the  experience  of  him  who  did.  But  it  is 
obvious  that  the  question  afliects  the  theory  itself^  and 
especially  the  consciousness  of  those  terms  of  possible 
communion  with  God,  those  relations  of  the  soul  to 
him,  on  the  reception  of  which  all  the  said  spiritual 
experience  must  depend. 

•  Soul,  p.  64. 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  129 

How,  then,  stands  the  argument  ?  I  ask  how  I  shall 
know  the  intimations  of  the  spiritual  faculty,  which 
renders  all  "  external  revelation  "  an  impertinence  ?  I 
am  told,  with  delicious  vagueness,  that  I  must  gaze  on 
the  phenomena  of  spiritual  consciousness ;  I  say  I  ex- 
ercise earnest  and  sincere  self-scrutiny,  and  that  I  can 
discern  nothing  but  shadowy  forms,  most  of  which  do 
not  answer  to  those  which  these  new  spiritualists  de- 
scribe ;  and  then  Mr.  Newman  turns  round  and  says, 
that  the  unspiritual  nature  cannot  discern  them  I  What 
is  this  but  to  give  up  the  only  question  of  any  impor- 
tance to  humanity, — which  is  not  what  are  Mr.  New- 
man's spiritual  phenomena ;  if  they  are  known  to  him- 
self, it  is  well ;  he  has  been  very  long  in  discovering 
them,  in  spite  of  the  clearness  of  the  internal  revelation  ; 
—  but  what  are  those  of  man?  If  the  former  be  all, 
Mr.  Newman  is  safe  indeed;  he  is  intrenched  in  his 
own  peculiar  consciousness,  of  which  I  am  quite  willing 
to  admit  that  all  other  men  (as  well  as  I)  are  inade- 
quate judges.  But  the  monograph  of  a  solitary  enthu- 
siast is  of  the  least  possible  consequence  to  humanity. 
For  reasons  similar  to  those  which  render  us  incompe- 
tent to  pronounce  on  his  experience,  he  is  incapable  of 
judging  of  ours.  There  is  only  one  other  answer  that 
I  know  of,  and  that  is  the  answer  which  Fellowes  made 
to  me  the  other  day,  when  you  were  not  by :  —  "  O,  but 
you  have  the  same  spiritual  consciousness  as  I  have, 
only  you  are  not  aware  of  it  ?  "  I  contented  myself 
with  saying,  that  I  was  just  as  able  to  comprehend  a 
perception  which  is  not  perceived,  as  a  consciousness 
which  when  sought  was  not  to  be  found.  The  question 
is  one  of  consciousness  ;  you  say  you  have  it,  I  do  not 
deny  it ;  I  have  it  not.  Now,  if  we  are  not  disputing 
as  to  whether  it  be  a  characteristic  of  humanity^  it  little 
matters ;  if  we  a.i'3,  I  plainly  have  the  best  of  it,  because 


130  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

want  of  uniformity  In  the  phenomenon  is  destructive  of 
the  hypothesis. 

But  I  proceed  to  ask  my  second  question.  Is  the 
"  absolute  religion "  of  Mr.  Parker,  or  the  "  spiritual 
faculty  "  of  Mr.  Newman,  of  such  singular  use  as  to 
supersede  all  external  revelation,  since  by  the  unfor- 
tunate "  coifceptions  "  of  the  one,  and  the  "  degraded 
types  "  of  the  other,  it  has  for  ages  left  man,  and  does, 
in  fact,  now  leave  him,  to  wallow  in  the  lowest  depths 
of  the  most  debasing  idolatry  and  superstition ;  since, 
by  the  confession  of  these  very  writers,  the  great  bulk 
of  mankind  have  been  and  are  hideously  mal-formed, 
in  fact,  spiritual  cripples,  and  have  been  left  to  wander 
in  infinitely  varied  paths  of  error,  but  always  paths  of 
error?  —  for  Judaism  and  Christianity,  though  belter 
forms,  are,  as  well  as  other  forms,  —  according  to  these 
writers,  —  full  of  fables  and  fancies,  of  lying  legends 
and  fantastical  doctrines.  Think  for  a  moment  of  a 
"  spiritual  faculty,"  so  bright  as  to  anticipate  all  essen- 
tial spiritual  verities, — the  universal  possession  of  hu- 
manity,—  which  yet  terminates  in  leaving  the  said 
humanity  to  grovel  in  every  form  of  error,  between  the 
extremes  of  Fetichism,  which  consecrates  a  bit  of  stone, 
and  Pantheism,  which  consecrates  all  the  bits  of  stone 
in  the  universe,  in  fact,  a  sort  of  comprehensive  Feti- 
chism ;  - —  which  leaves  man  to  erect  every  thing  into  a 
God,  provided  it  is  none,  —  sun,  moon,  stars,  a  cat,  a 
monkey,  an  onion,  uncouth  idols,  sculptured  marble  j 
nay,  a  shapeless  trunk,  —  which  the  devout  impatience 
of  the  idolater  does  not  stay  to  fashion  into  the  likeness 
of  a  man,  but  gives  it  its  apotheosis  at  once  !  Think  of 
the  venerable,  v/ide-spread  empire  of  the  infinite  forms 
of  polytheism,  the  ancient  Egyptian,  Greek,  Roman, 
Chinese,  and  Hindoo  mythologies  ;  and  then  acknowl- 
edge, that,  if  man  has  this  faculty,  it  is  either  the  most 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  131 

idle  prerogative  ever  bestowed  on  a  rational  creature, 
or  that,  somehow  or  other,  as  the  Bible  affirms,  it  has 
been  denaturalized  and  disabled.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
man  has  this  faculty,  and  yet  has  never  fallen^  it  can 
only  be  because  he  never  stood;  and  then,  no  doubt,  as 
old  John  Bunyan  hath  it,  "  He  that  is  down  need  fear 
no  fall!'' 

There  is  an  answer,  indeed,  but  it  is  one  which,  in 
my  judgment,  covers  those  who  resort  to  it  with  the 
deepest  shame.  It  is  that  which  apologizes  for  all  these 
abominations,  —  so  humiliating  and  odious,  by  repre- 
senting them  as  less  humiliating  and  odious  than  they 
are.  It  is  true  that  Mr.  Parker,  when  it  is  his  cue,  is 
most  eloquent  in  his  denunciations  of  the  infinite  mis- 
eries and  degradation  which  have  followed  the  exorbi- 
tancies  of  the  religious  principle.  Thus  he  says  of  su- 
perstition (and  there  are  other  innumerable  passages  to  a 
similar  effect),  "  To  dismember  the  soul,  the  very  image 
of  God,  —  to  lop  off  the  most  sacred  affections,  —  to 
call  Reason  a  liar.  Conscience  a  devil's  oracle,  and  cast 
Love  clean  out  from  the  heart,  —  this  is  the  last  tri- 
umph of  superstition,  but  one  often  witnessed  in  all  the 
three  forms  of  Religion,  Fetichism,  Polytheism,  Mon- 
otheism ;  in  all  ages  before  Christ,  in  all  ages  after 
Christ."  Far  be  it  from  me  to  deny  it,  or  the  similar 
horrors  which  he  liberally  shows  flow  from  fanaticism. 
But  then,  at  other  times,  that  quintessence  of  all  ab- 
stractions which  all  religions  alike  contain  —  the  "  ab- 
solute religion  "  —  imparts  such  perfume  and  appetizing 
relish  to  the  whole  composition,  that,  like  Dominie 
Sampson  in  Meg  Merrilies's  cuisine^  Mr.  P.  finds  the 
Devil's  cookery-book  not  despicable.  The  things  he  so 
fearfully  describes  are  but  perversions  of  what  is  essen- 
tially good.  The  "  form s,^  the  "  accidentals,'^  of  differ- 
ent religions  become  of  little  consequence  ;  whether  it 


132  THE    EQLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

/be  Jehovah  or  Jupiter,  the  infinite  Creator  or  a  divine 
/  cat,  a  holy  and  gracious  God  that  is  loved,  or  an  impure 
V  demon  that  is  feared,  —  all  this  is  secondary,  provided 
jthe   principles   Of  faith^  simplicity^  and  earnestness  — 
'that  is,  blind  credulity  and  idiotic  stupidity  —  inspire 
the  wretched  votary ;  as  if  the  perversions  he  deplores 
and  condemns  were  not  the  necessary  consequences  of 
such  religions  themselves,  or,  rather,  as  if  they  were 
aught  but  the  religions !     In  virtue  of  the  "  absolute  re- 
ligion," "  many  a  savage  smeared  with  human  sacri- 
fice," and  the  Christian  martyr  perishing  with  a  prayer 
for  his  persecutors,  are  hastening  together  to  the  celes- 
tial banquet.     I  hope  the  "  savage "  will  not  go  with 
"unwashen  hands,"  I  trust  he  may  be  Pharisee  enough 
for  that ;  I  also  hope  the  two  will  not  sit  next  one  an- 
other ;  otherwise  the  savage  may  be  tempted  to  offer  up 
a  second  sacrifice,  and  the  Christian  martyr  be  a  martyr 
a  second  time.     Hear  him :  —  "  He  that  worships  truly^ 
rby  whatever  form,"  — ^that  is,  who  is  sincere  in  his  Feti- 
chism,  his  idolatry,  his  sacrifices,  though  they  may  be 
luman,  —  "worships  the  only  God;  he  hears  the  pray- 
er, whether  called  Brahma,  Pan,  or  Lord,  or  called  by 
no  name  at  all.     Each  people  has  its  prophets  and  its 
saints ;  and  many  a  swarthy  Indian  who  bowed  down 
to  wood  and  stone,  —  many  a  grim-faced  Calmuck,  who 
worshipped  the  great  God  of  Storms,  —  many  a  Gre- 
cian peasant  who  did  homage  to  Phoebus  Apollo  when 
the  sun  rose  or  went  down,  —  yes,  many  a  savage,  his 
hands  smeared  all  over  with  human  sacrifice,  —  shall 
come  from  the  East  and  the  West,  and  sit  down  in  the 
kingdom  of    God,  with    Moses   and    Zoroaster,   with 
Socrates  and  Jesus."  *     The  charity  which  hopes  that 
men  may  be  forgiven  the  crime  of  "  religions  "  which, 

*  Discourses,  p.  83. 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  133 

if  there  be  a  God  at  all,  must  be  "  abominations,"  one 
can  understand;  but  these  maudlin  apologies  for  the 
religions  themselves,  —  as  if  they  were  not  themselves 
crimes,  and  involved  crimes  in  their  very  practice^  —  I  ^ 
do  not  understand.     According  to  this,  all  that  man    / 
has  to  do  is  to  be  sincere  in  any  thing,  however  diaboli-  / 
cal,  and  it  is  at  once  transmuted  into  a  virtue  which  / 
nothingr  less  than  heaven  can  reward ! 


rTPaJ 


Mr.  Newman  sometimes  follows  closely  in  Mr. 
ker's  steps  in  the  exercise  of  this  bastard  toleration, 
this  spurious  charity ;  though,  in  justice,  I  must  say,  he 
does  not  go  his  length.  Yet  who  can  read  without 
loughter  that  definition  of  idolatry,  made  apparently 
for  the  same  preposterous  purpose,  —  to  sanctify  the 
hideous  absurdities  of  the  "  religious  sentiment,"  and  to 
save  the  credit  of  the  "  internal  oracle  "  ?  He  says,  — 
"  To  worship  as  perfect  and  infinite  one  whom  we  knoio 
to  be  imperfect  and  finite,  this  is  idolatry,  and  (in  any 

bad  sense)  this  alone A  man  can  but  adore  his 

own  highest  ideal ;  to  forbid  this  is  to  forbid  all  religion 
to  him.  If,  therefore,  idolatry  is  to  mean  any  thing 
wrong  and  bad,  the  word  must  be  reserved  for  the  cases 
in  which  a  man  degrades  his  ideal  by  worshipping 
something  that  falls  short  of  it."  *  __ 

So  that  the  most  degraded^idolaterj^il.  he  but  come 
up  to  his  own  ideal  of  the  Divinity,  is  none  at  all,  but  a 
respectable  worshipper !  It  may  be  ;  but  the  idolater's 
ideal  of  God  is,  generally,  the  reality  of  what  others 
call  the  Devil !  —  Only  think  of  the  divine  ideal  of  a 
man  who  worships  an  image  of  his  own  making,  with 
ten  heads  and  twenty  hands  I  The  definition  reminds 
me  of  that  passage  in  which  Pascal's  Jesuit  Father  de- 
fines the  moral  sin  of  "  idleness  "  :  —  "  It  is,"  says  he, 


*  Soul,  pp.  55,  5C. 
12 


134  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  a  grief  that  spiritual  things  should  be  spiritual,  as  if 
it  should  be  regretted  that  the  sacraments  are  the 
source  of  grace  ;  and  it  is  a  mortal  sin."  "  O  Father !  " 
said  I,  "  I  cannot  imagine  that  any  one  can  be  idle  in 
such  a  sense."  "  So  Escobar  says,  *  I  confess  it  is  very 
seldom  that  any  person  falls  into  the  sin  of  idleness.' 
Now,  surely,  you  must  see  the  necessity  of  a  good  defi- 
nition  !  " 

No,  no ;  few  but  Mr.  Parker  will  affirm  that  the 
various  religions  which  have  overshadowed  the  world 
are  essentially  more  one  in  virtue  of  the  "absolute 
religion,"  than  they  are  different  in  virtue  of  their  prin- 
ciples, tendencies,  practices,  and  forms ;  while  in  none 
—  if  we  except  Judaism  and  Christianity  —  is  there 
enough  of  the  "  absolute  religion  "  to  keep  them  siveet. 

These  apologies,  odious  as  they  are,  are  necessary 
if  the  credit  of  the  "  spiritual  faculty  "  and  the  "  abso- 
lute religion  "  is  to  be  at  all  preserved.  But,  unhappily, 
it  is  not  a  tone  which  can  be  consistently  preserved. 
Sometimes  the  religions  of  mankind  are  all  tolerable 
enough,  from  the  presence  of  the  all-consecrating  ele- 
ment; and  sometimes,  in  spite  of  this  great  antiseptic, 
they  are  represented  as  the  rotten,  putrid  things  they 
are  !  And  then  another  answer,  equally  empty  with  the 
former,  is  hinted  to  save  the  credit  of  the  darling  oracle. 
Its  due  influence  has  been  perverted,  its  just  expansion 
prevented,  by  the  influence  of  national  religions,  by  the 
intervention  of  the  "historical"  and  "traditional,"  by 
false  and  pernicious  education  ;  —  these  things,  it  seems, 
have  poisoned  the  waters  of  spiritual  life  in  their  source, 
else  they  had  gushed  out  of  the  hidden  fountains  of  the 
heart  pure  as  crystal  I 

Yes,  it  is  too  plain  ;  "  Bibliolatry  "  and  "  Historical 
Religion,"  in  some  shape, —  Vedas,  Koran,  or  Bible, — 
have  been  the  world's  bane.     Had  it  not  been  for  these, 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  135 

I  suppose,  we  should  everywhere  have  heard  the  inva- 
riable utterance  of  "  spiritual  religion  "  in  the  one  dia- 
lect of  the  heart. 

It  is  too  certain  that  the  world  has  found  its  spiritual 
"  Babel " :  the  one  dialect  of  the  heart  is  yet  to  be 
heard. 

But  I  am  not  sure  that  the  apologetic  vein  would 
not  be  wiser.  For  what  is  this  plea,  but  to  acknowl- 
edge that  man  is  so  constituted  that  the  boasted  "  re- 
ligious sentiment,"  the  "  spiritual  faculty^"  —  if  it  exist 
at  all,  and  is  any  thing  more  than,  an  ill-defined  ten- 
dency, —  instead  of  being  a  glorious  light  which  antici- 
pates all  external  revelation,  and  renders  it  superfluous, 
is,  in  fact,  about  the  feeblest  in  our  nature  ;  which  every- 
where and  always  is  seduced  and  debauched  by  the 
most  trumpery  pretensions  of  the  "  historical "  and  "  tra- 
ditional "  !  It  is  not  so  with  people's  eyes  ;  it  is  not  so 
with  people's  appetites  ;  no  parental  influence  or  early 
instruction  can  make  men  think  that  green  is  blue,  or 
stones  and  chalk  good  for  food.  Yet  this  glorious 
faculty  uniformly  yields,  —  goes  into  shivers  in  the  en- 
counter I  J,  at  least,  will  grant  to  Mr.  Parker  all  he 
says  of  the  pernicious  and  detestable  character  of  the 
infinite  variety  of  "  false  conceptions  of  God,"  and  to 
Mr.  Newman  all  he  says  of  the  "degraded  types"  of 
religion ;  but  then  it  was  Man  himself  that  framed  all 
those  "false  conceptions,"  and  all  those  "degraded 
types."  How  came  he  thus  universally  to  triumph  over 
that  divinely  implanted  faculty  of  spiritual  discernment, 
which,  if  it  exist,  must  be  the  most  admirable  feature 
of  humanity  ;  which  these  writers  tell  us  anticipates  all 
external  truths  but  which,  it  &;eems,  greedily  swallows  all 
external  error?  It  almost  universally  submits  to  the 
most  contemptible  pretensions  of  a  revelation,  and  ac- 
knowledges that  it  dares  not  to  pronounce  on  that,  even 


136  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

when  false,  of  which,  even  when  true,  it  is  to  be  the 
sole  source  I  There  never  was  an  "  historical"  religion, 
however  contemptible,  that  did  not  make  its  thousands 
of  proselytes.  Man  has  been  easily  led  to  embrace  the 
most  absurd  systems  of  mythology  and  superstition, 
and  is  willing  even  to  go  to  death  for  them. 

So  far  from  venturing  to  set  up  the  claims  of  the  in- 
ternal oracle  in  competition,  man  all  but  uniformly  takes 
his  religion  from  his  fathers  (no  matter  what),  just  as  he 
takes  his  property ;  only  the  former,  however  worthless, 
he  holds  as  infinitely  the  more  precious.  Even  when  he 
surrenders  it,  he  still  surrenders  it  to  some  other  "  histori- 
cal "  religion :  it  is  to  that  he  turns.  Such  men  as  Mr. 
Newman  and  Mr.  Parker  —  though  every  one  can  see 
that  their  system  too  has  been  derived  from  iviihout^  that 
it  is,  in  fact,  nothing  but  a  distorted  Christianity  —  may 
be  numbered  by  units.  The  vast  bulk  of  mankind  are 
unresisting  victims  of  the  "  traditional "  and  "  histori- 
cal " ;  nay,  rather  eagerly  ask  for  it,  and  willingly  sub- 
mit to  it.  What,  then,  can  I  infer,  but  either,  1st,  that 
this  vaunted  internal  faculty  which  supersedes  all  ne- 
cessity of  an  external  revelation  is  a  delusion,  and  exists 
only  as  a  vague  and  imperfect  tendency ;  or,  2dly,  that, 
as  Christians  saj-j  it  lies  in  ruins,  and  needs  that  exter- 
nal revelation,  the  possibility  of  which  is  denied;  or, 
3dly,  that  God  has  somehow  made  a  great  mistake  in 
mingling  the  various  elements  of  man's  composition, 
and  miscalculating  the  overmastering  power  of  the  "  his- 
torical" and  "  traditional " ;  or,  4thly,  that  man,  hav- 
ing the  original  faculty  still  bright  and  strong,  and  that 
brightness  and  strength  sufficient  for  his  guidance  and 
support,  is  more  hopelessly,  deliberately,  and  diabolical- 
ly wicked,  in  thus  everywhere  and  always  substituting 
error  for  truth,  and  superstition  for  religion, — in  thus 
giving  the  historical  ard  traditional  the  uniform  ascen- 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  137 

dency  over  the  moral  and  spiritual,  —  than  even  the 
most  desperate  Calvinist  ever  ventured  to  represent 
him !  Surely  he  is  the  most  detestable  beast  that  ever 
crawled  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and,  in  a  new  and 
more  portentous  sense,  "  loves  darkness  rather  than 
light."  The  fact  is,  that  —  so  far  from  having  even  a 
suspicion  that  an  external  revelation  is  useless  or  impos- 
sible—  he,  as  already  said,  greedily  seeks  for  it,  and 
devours  it. 

Nay,  so  far  from  its  being  authenticated  by  the  his- 
tory, or  vouched  by  the  consciousness  of  the  race,  this 
very  proposition  —  that  man  stands  in  no  need  of  an 
external  revelation  —  first  comes  to  him,  and  rather 
late  too,  by  an  external  revelation  ;  even  the  revelation 
of  such  writers  as  Mr.  Parker  and  Mr.  Newman.  The 
last  has  been  a  student  of  theology  for  twenty  years,  and 
has  only  just  arrived  at  this  conviction,  that  he  needed 
no  light,  inasmuch  as  he  had  plenty  of  light  "  within." 
Brilliant,  surely,  it  must  have  been !  I  can  only  say 
for  myself,  that  I  do  not,  even  with  such  aid,  find 
myself  in  any  superfluous  illumination,  and  would 
gladly  accept,  with  Plato,  some  divine  communication, 
of  which,  heathen  as  he  was,  he  acknowledged  the  ne- 
cessity. 

The  mode  of  accounting  for  man's  universal  aber- 
rations, from  the  tyranny  of  "  bibliolatry  "  and  super- 
stitious and  pernicious  "  education,"  —  seeing  that  it  is 
a  tyranny  of  man's  own  imposing,  —  is  exactly  like  that 
by  which  some  theologians  seek  to  elude  the  argument 
of  man's  depravity  ;  it  is  owing,  they  say,  to  the  influ- 
ence of  a  universally  depraved  education  !  But  whence 
that  universally  depraved  education  they  forget  to  tell 
us.  Meantime,  the  inquirer  is  apt  to  put  that  universal 
proclivity  in  the  matter  of  education  to  that  very  de- 
pravity for  which  it  is  to  account 

IS* 


138  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

Similarly,  one  is  apt  to  infer,  from  man's  tendency 
to  de\iate  into  any  path  of  religious  superstition  and 
folly,  that  the  spiritual  lantern  he  carries  within  casts 
but  a  feeble  light  upon  his  path.  This  plea,  therefore, 
is  utterly  worthless ;  for  if  it  were  true,  that  the  influ- 
ence of  tradition  and  historic  association,  when  once 
set  up,  could  thus  darken  and  debauch  the  natural  fac- 
ulty, whose  specific  office  it  was  to  convey,  like  the  eye, 
specific  intelligence,  it  would  not  account  for  the  first 
tendencies  of  man  to  disown  its  authority  in  favor  of 
an  absurd  and  uniform  submission  to  the  usurpations 
of  tradition  and  priestcraft.  The  faculty  is  universally 
feeble  against  this  influence  ;  it  staggers  ;  whether  from 
weakness  or  drunkenness  little  matters,  except  that  the 
last  is  the  viler  infirmity  of  the  two.  If  we  find  a  river 
turbid,  it  is  of  no  consequence  whether  it  was  so  as  it 
issued  from  its  fountain,  or  from  pollutions  which  have 
been  infused  into  its  current  lower  down,  —  it  is  a  tur- 
bid river  still. 

On  the  whole,  so  far  from  admitting  the  principle  of 
Mr.  Newman,  that  a  "  book-revelation  "  of  moral  and 
spiritual  truth  is  unnecessary,  I  should  rather  be  dis- 
posed to  infer  the  very  contrary,  from  the  uncertainty, 
vacillation,  and  feebleness  of  man's  spiritual  nature. 
I  should  be  disposed  to  infer  it,  whether  I  look  at  the 
lessons  which  experience  and  history  teach,  or  those 
taught  by  my  own  anxious  and  sincere  scrutiny  of  my 
own  consciousness.  If  it  6e,  on  the  other  hand,  as  he 
says,  "impossible,"  mankind  are  in  a  very  hopeless  pre- 
dicament, since  it  only  proves  that,  the  "  spiritual  in- 
sight "  of  man  having  unhappily  failed  the  great  majority 
Qf  our  race,  it  cannot  be  supplied  by  any  external  aid ; 
that  the  malady,  which  is  but  too  apparent,  is  also  as 
apparently  without  a  remedy. 

For  myself,  I  must  say  that  I  find  myself  hopelessly 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  139 

at  issue  with  him  in  virtue  of  the  above  axiom,  whether 
I  receive  or  reject  his  theory  of  religious  truth ;  for,  if 
that  axiom  be  true,  I  must  reject  his  theory  of  religion, 
—  since  it  is  nothing  but  a  book-revelation  to  me, — 
issued  by  Mr.  Newman,  i^nstead  of  the  Bible  or  the 
Koran.  On  the  other  hand,  if  that  theory  be  true,  and 
I  accept  it,  his  maxim  must  be  false,  for  the  very  same 
reason ;  since  he  himself  will  have  given  me  a  double 
book-revelation,  —  a  revelation  at  once  of  the  theory 
and  of  the  genesis  of  religion,  both  of  which  are  in 
many  respects  absolute  novelties  to  my  consciousness. 

But  further;  if  we  take  the  genesis  of  religion  as 
described  by  either  of  these  writers,  and  consider  the 
infinite  corruptions  to  which  they  both  acknowledge  a 
perverted,  imperfect  "development"  of  the  "religious 
sentiment"  and  the  "spiritual  faculty"  has  led,  one 
would  imagine  that  an  external  communicatidH  from 
Heaven  might  be  both  very  possible  and  very  useful ; 
useful,  if  only  by  cautioning  men  against  those  "  false 
conceptions"  which  have  so  uniformly  swamped  the 
"  idea,"  and  those  "  degraded  types,"  into  which  all 
the  various  principles  of  our  nature  have  wheedled  the 
"  spiritual  faculty."  Only  listen  to  a  brief  specimen  of 
the  "  by-path  meadows "  which  entice  the  poor  soul 
from  the  direct  course  of  its  development,  and  judge 
whether  a  communication  from  Heaven,  if  it  were  only 
to  the  extent  of  a  sign-post  by  the  way-side,  might  not 
be  of  use !  First  comes  "  awe."  "  But  even  in  this 
early  stage,"  says  Mr.  Newman,  '''  numberless  deviations 
take  place,  and  mark  especially  the  rudest  Paganism. 
We  may  embrace  them   under   the    general   name  of 

Fetichism,  wbich  here  claims  attention But  even 

in  the  midst  of  enlightened  science,  and  highly  literate 
ages,  errors  fundamentally  identical  with  those  of  Feti- 
chism may  and  do  exist,  and  with  the  very  same  re- 


140  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

suits."  *  Then  comes  wonder  :  "  But  of  this  likewise 
we  find  numerous  degraded  types  in  which  the  rising 
religion  is  marred Of  this  we  have  eminent  in- 
stances in  the  gods  of  Greece,  and  in  the  fairies  of  the 

German  and  Persian  tribes Under  the  same  head 

will  be  included   the  grotesque  devil-stories  and  other 

legends   of  the  Middle   Ages Yet  the  dreadful 

alternative  of  gross  superstition  is  this,  that  the  graver 
view  tends  to  cruel  and  horrible  rites,  while  the  fanciful 
and  sportive  sucks  out  the  life-blood  of  devout  feel- 
ing." t  Then  comes  the  sense  of  beauty  :  "  This  was 
strikingly  illustrated  in  Greek  sculpture.  A  statue  of 
exquisite  beauty,  representing  some  hero,  or  an  Apollo, 
because  of  its  beauty,  seemed  to  the  Greeks  a  fit  object 

of  worship An  opposite  danger  is  often  remarked 

to  accompany  the  use  of  all  the  fine  arts  as  handmaids 
to  religion ;  namely,  that  the  would-be  worshipper  is 
so  absorbed  in  mere  beauty  as  never  to  rise  into  devo- 
tion." J  Then  comes  the  sense  of  order ;  but,  alas ! 
Atheism  and  Pantheism,  and  other  "  degrading  types," 
may  be  begotten  of  it ! 

As  I  look  at  men  thus  tumbling  into  error  along  this 
wretched  causeway  to  heaven,  I  seem  to  be  viewing 
Addison's  bridge  of  human  life,  with  its  broken  arches, 
at  each  of  which  thousands  are-  falling  through.  This 
way  to  the  "celestial  city"  ought  to  be  called  the 
"  Northwest  Passage  " ;  it  has  one^  and  only  one,  trait 
of  your  Christian  path  :  "  there  will  be  few  that  find  it " 

If,  then,  by  the  confession  of  these  writers,  the  "  false 
conceptions"  and  the  "degraded  types"  —  the  result 
of  what  are  as  truly  "  principles  "  of  man's  nature  as 
the  supposed  "  spiritual  faculty,"  only  that  this  last 
always  has  the  worst  in  the  conflict  —  have  universally, 

•  Soul,  pp.  7, 10.  t  Ibid.  pp.  14  - 16.  { Ibid.  pp.  21,  23. 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  141 

and  for  unknown  ages,  involved  man  in  the  darkest 
abysses  of  superstition,  crime,  and  misery,  surely  exter- 
nal revelation  is  any  thing  but  superfluous  ;  and  if  im- 
possible, so  much  the  worse. 

The  same  truth  is  even  formally  evinced  by  the  self- 
destructive  course  which  both  writers  employ ;  for  as 
the  conditions  of  the  development  of  our  "spiritual 
nature,"  when  not  complied  with,  lead  to  all  the  de- 
plorable conseqtiences  which  they  acknowledge,  how 
do  they  propose  to  rectify  them  ?  ,  Why,  by  "  external " 
culture,  proper  discipline  and  training,  judicious  in- 
struction, by  enlig'htening'  mankind, —  as  we  may  sup- 
pose they  are  doing  by  these  hopeful  books  of  theirs ! 
If  man  can  do  so  much  by  his  books,  is  it  impossible 
that  a  book  from  God  migM^o^sojnething  more  ?  But 
on  this  I  will  say  nothing,  since  you  tell  me  that  you 
have  heard  attentively  the  conversation  I  had  with  my 
friend  Fellowes  the  other  day.  I  will  therefore  omit 
what  I  had  written  on  this  point 

But  I  proceed  to  another,  maintained  by  these,  writ- 
ers, on  which  I  confess  I  am  equally  sceptical.  If 
they  concede  (as  how  can  they  help  it?)  that  the 
"  religious  sentiment "  and  the  "  spiritual  faculty  "  have 
somehow  left  humanity  involved  in  the  most  deplorable 
perplexities  and  the  most  humiliating  errors,  they  yet 
assure  us  that  there  is  "a  good  time  coming,"  —  an 
auspicious  "  progress  "  in  virtue  and  religion,  verf/  grad- 
ual indeed,  ~but_sure  and  illimitable  for  the  race  col- 
lectively !  Yes,  "  progress,"  that  is  the  word ;  and  a 
"  progress  "  for  the  world  at  large,  of  which  they  speak 
as  certainly  as  if  they  had  received,  at  least  on  that 
point,  that  external  revelation,  the  possibility  of  which 
they  deny.  A  matter  of  spiritual  "  insight  "  I  presume 
none  will  declare  it  to  be,  and  the  data  are  certainly  far 
too  meagre  and  unsatisfactory  to  make  it  calculation* 


142  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

Is  Sau.  among  the  prophets  ?  Yes ;  but,  as  usual,  the 
truth  (if  it  be  a  truth)  for  which  they  contend  is,  as 
with  other  parts  of  their  systeni,  a  plagiarism  from  the 
abjured  Bible.  Now,  if  I  must  believe  prophecy,  I 
prefer  the  magnificent  strains  of  Isaiah  to  the  senti- 
mental prose  either  of  Mr.  Parker  or  of  Mr.  Newman. 

I  must  modestly  doubt  whether,  apart  from  the  rep- 
resentations of  the  "books"  they  abjure  as  special 
"  revelations,"  there  is  any  thing  in  the  history  of  the 
world  which  will  justify  a  sober-minded  man  in  coming 
to  any  positive  conclusion  as  to  this  promised  "  prog- 
ress," this  infidel  millennium,  either  the  one  way  or  the 
other.  The  chief  facts,  apart  from  such  special  infor- 
mation, would  certainly  point  the  other  way.  Look 
at  the  condition  of  the  immense  majority  of  the  race 
in  every  age,  —  so  far  as  we  can  gather  any  thing  from 
history,  —  compare  it  with  that  of  the  immense  major- 
ity at  the  present  moment ;  —  what  does  it  tell  us  ? 
Why,  surely,  that,  if  there  be  a  destiny  of  indefinite 
"  progress "  in  religion  and  virtue  for  the  race  collec- 
tively, the  hand  of  the  great  clock  moves  so  immeasur- 
ably slow  that  it  is  impossible  to  note  it.  The  expe- 
rience of  the  individual,  nay,  of  recorded  history, — 
if  we  can  say  there  is  any  such  thing,  —  fails  to  trace 
the  movement  of  the  index  on  the  huge  dial.  If  there 
be  this  progress  for  the  race  collectively^  it  must  be 
accomplished  in  a  cycle  vast  as  those  of  the  geological 
eras ;  —  a  deposit  of  a  millionth  of  an  inch  of  knowledge 
and  virtue  over  the  whole  race  in  fifty  million  years  or 
so !  Mr.  Newman  is  pleased  to  say,  "  Some  nations 
sink,  while  others  rise ;  but  the  lower  and  higher  levels 
are  both  generally  ascending."  Has  this  level  for  the 
whole  race  been  raised  perceptibly  within  the  memory 
of  so-called  history  ? 

Observe ;    I  am  not  denying  that  the  notion  may  be 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEIS.':!.  143 

true  :  I  am  literally  the  sceptic  I  profess  to  be  ;  I  know- 
not —  apart  from  special  information  from  a  superhu- 
man source — whether  it  be  true  or  false.  I  am  only 
venturing  to  laugh  at  men,  who,  denying  any  such  in- 
formation, affect  to  speak  with  any  confidence  on  the 
solution  of  this  prodigious  problem,  the  data  for  solving 
which  I  contend  we  have  not;  while  those  we  have, 
apart  from  the  direct  assurance  of  supposed  inspiration, 
more  plausibly  point  to  an  opposite  conclusion.  The 
conclusion  which  would  more  naturally  suggest  itself 
from  the  history  of  the  past  would  be  that  of  perpetual 
advance  and  perpetual  retrogression,  contemporaneously 
going  on  in  different  portions  of  the  race,  —  perpetual 
flux  and  reflux  of  the  waves  of  knowledge  and  science 
on  different  shores ;  though,  alas  !  as  to  "  religion  and 
virtue^^  I  fear  that  these,  like  the  Mediterranean,  are  al- 
most without  their  tides.  For  a  "  progress  "  in  the  for- 
mer,—  in  the  race  collectively,  —  far  more  plausible 
arguments  can  be  adduced  than  for  a  progress  in  the 
latter;  yet  how  much  might  be  said  that  appears  to 
militate  even  against  that.  Think  of  the  frequent  and 
signal  checks  to  civilization ;  its  transference  from  seat 
to  seat ;  the  decay  of  races  once  celebrated  for  knowl- 
edge and  art ;  the  inundations  of  barbarism  from  time 
to  time;  —  these  things  alone  might  make  a  sober  mind 
pause  before  he  predicted  for  the  entire  race  a  certain 
progress  even  in  art  and  science.  Experience  would  at 
most  justify  a  philosopher  in  saying,  "Perhaps,  yes; 
perhaps,  no."  But  the  argument  becomes  incomparably 
more  doubtful  when  w^e  come  to  "  religion,"  and  espe- 
cially that  particular  form  of  it  which  such  writers  as 
Messrs.  Parker  and  Newman  believe  will  be  preeminent 
and  universal;  towards  which  consummation  it  does 
not  appear  at  present  that  the  smallest  conceivable  ad-, 
vance  has  been  made ;  since,  with  the  exception  of  that 


144  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

» 

infinitesimal  party,  of  which  they  are  among  the  chief, 
the  immense  majority  of  mankind  persist  in  rejecting 
the  sufficiency  of  the  "internal"  oracle,  and  are  still 
found  as  strongly  convinced  as  ever  both  of  the  possi- 
bility and  necessity  of  an  "external"  revelation,  and 
that,  in  some  shape  or  other,  it  has  been  given  I  Nay, 
the  facts,  so  far  as  v/e  have  any,  seem  all  the  other 
way  ;  for  no  sooner  had  men  been  put  approximately 
in  possession  of  the  pure  "  spiritual  truth,"  which  both 
Mr.  Newman  and  Mr.  Parker  suppose  to  be  character- 
istic in  larger  measure  of  Judaism  and  Christianity  than 
of  any  other  religion,  than  they  busily  began  the  work, 
not  of  improvement,  but  of  corruption.  The  Jews  cor- 
ifbpted  their  pure  monotheistic  truths  into  what  these 
writers  believe  the  fables,  legends,  miracles,  and  absurd 
dogmas  of  the  Old  Testament:  and,  as  li  that  were  not 
enough,  proceeded  to  bury  them  in  the  huge  absurdi- 
ties of  the  Rabbinical  traditions ;  the  Christians,  in 
like  manner,  corrupted  the  yet  purer  truths,  which  these 
writers  affirm  Christianity  teaches,  with  what  they  also 
affirm  to  be  the  load  of  myth,  fiction,  false  history,  and 
monstrous  doctrine,  which  make  up  nine  tenths  of  the 
New  Testament :  and,  as  if  that  were  not  enough,  pro- 
ceeded, just  as  did  the  Jews,  to  "  expand  "  the  New 
Testament  itself  into  the  worse  than  Rabbinical  tradi- 
tions of  the  Papacy !  From  approximate  "  spiritual 
truth"  to  the  supposed  legends  and  false  dogmas  ol 
the  Pentateuch,  from  the  supposed  legends  and  dogmas 
of  the  Pentateuch  to  the  absurdities  of  the  Talmud ; 
—  again,  from  the  approximate  "spiritual  truth"  of 
Christianity  to  the  supposed  legends  and  fanciful  doc- 
trines of  the  New  Testament,  and  from  the  legends  and 
doctrines  of  the  New  Testament  to  the  corruptions  of 
the  Papacy ;  —  surely  these  are  queer  proofs  of  a  ten- 
dency to   progress!     A  tendency  to  retrogradation  is 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  145 

rather  indicated.  No  sooner,  it  appears,  does  man  pro- 
ceed to  obtain  "  spiritual  truth  "  tolerably  pure,  as  tested  \ 
by  such  writers,  than  he  proceeds  incontinently  to  adul-  ,! 
terate  it !  This  unhappy  and  uniform  tendency  is  also 
a  curious  comment  on  the  impotence  of  the  internal 
spiritual  oracle,  as  against  the  ascendency  of  the  "  his- 
torical "  and  "  traditional." 

Similar  arguments  of  doubt  may  be  derived  from 
other  facts. 

Over  how  many  countries  did  primitive  Christianity 
soon  degenerate  into  such  odious  idolatry,  that  even  the 
delusions  of  the  "  false  prophet "  have  been  considered 
(like  the  doom  to  "labor")  as  a  sort  of  beneficent  curse 
in  comparison !  What,  again,  for  ages,  was  the  history 
of  those  "  Shemitic  races,"  in  which,  of  all  "  races," 
was  found,  according  to  Mr.  Parker,  the  happiest  "  re- 
ligious organization,"  by  which  they  discovered,  earlier 
than  other  "races,"  the  great  truths  of  Monotheism? 
One  incessant  bulimia  for  idolatry  was  their  master- 
passion  for  ages;  while  for  many  ages  past,  as  has 
been  remarked  by  a  countryman  of  Mr.  Parker,  their 
"  happy  religious  organization  "  has  been  in  deplorable 
ruins. 

I  humbly  venture,  then,  once  again,  to  doubt  whether 
any  sober-minded  man,  apart  from  "  special  inspira- 
tion," can  affirm  that  he  has  any  grounds  to  utter  a 
word  about  a  "  progress  "  in  religion  or  virtue  for  the 
race  collectively.  But  it  is  easy  to  see  where  these 
waiters  obtained  the  notion ;  they  have  stolen  it  from 
that  Bible  which  as  a  special  revelation  they  have  ab* 
jured. 

I  cannot  help  remarking  here,  that  it  is  a  most  sus- 
picious circumstance,  if  there  be,  indeed,  any  universal 
and  sufficient  "internal  revelation,'*-^at  these  writers 
find  every  memorable  advance  qi  what  they  deem  re- 

13 


146  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH;'^ 

ligious  truth  in  unaccountable  connection  either  with 
the  happy  "  religious  organization  of  one  race,"  accord- 
ing to  Mr.  Parker,  or  in  equally  strange  connection  with 
the  records  of  "  two  books  "  originating  among  that  race, 
according  to  Mr.  Newman.  "  The  Bible,"  says  the  lat- 
ter, "is  pervaded  by  a  sentiment  which  is  implied  every- 
where, namely,  the  intimate  sympathy  of  the  Pure  and 
Perfect  God  ivith  the  heart  of  each  faithful  worshipper. 
This  is  that  which  is  wanting  in  Greek  philosophers, 
English  Deists,  German  Pantheists,  and  all  formalists. 
This  is  that  which  so  often  edifies  me  in  Christian 
writers  and  speakers,  when  I  ever  so  much  disbelieve 
the  letter  of  their  sentences."  * 

It  is  unaccountably  odd  that  the  universal  spiritual 
faculty  should  act  thus  capriciously,  and  equally  odd 
that  Mr.  Newman  does  not  perceive,  that,  if  it  were  not 
for  the  "  Bible,"  his  religion  would  no  more  have  as- 
sumed the  peculiar  task  it  has,  than  that  of  Aristotle  or 
Cicero.  Sentiments  due  to  the  still  active  influences 
of  his  Christian  education  he  imputes  to  the  direct  in- 
tuitions of  spiritual  vision,  just  as  we  are  apt  to  con- 
found the  original  and  acquired  perceptions  of  our  eye- 
.  sight.     He  is  in  the  condition  of  one  who  mistakes  a 

j  ireflected  image  for  the  object  itself,  or  a  forgotten  sug- 
gestion of  another  for  an  original  idea.     In  the  camera 

I  obscura  of  his  mind,  he  flatters  himself  that  the  colored 

/  forms  there  traced  are  the  original  inscriptions  on  the 
[  walls,  forgetful  of  the  little  aperture  which  has  let  in 
N   the  light;   and  not  even  disturbed  by  the  untoward 

r  phenomenon,  that  the  ideas  thus  contemplated  are  all 

\  upside  down. 

But,  surely,  it  is  natural  to  ask,  —  How  is  it  that 
Greek  philosophers,  Hindoo   sages,  Egyplian   priests, 

•  Phases,  p.  188. 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM,  147 

English  Deists, —  that  men  of  all  other  religions,— 
having  always  had  access  to  the  fountain  of  natural 
illumination  within,^  have  not  also  had  their  "  Baxters, 
Leightons,  Watts,  Doddridges  "  ?  that  the  whole  style 
of  thought  on  this  subject  is  so  totally  different  in  them 
all,  by  his  own  confession  ?  If  man  possess  the  "  spirit- 
ual faculty  "  attributed  to  him,  —  if  it  be  a  characteristic 
of  humanity,  —  it  will  be  surely  generally  manifested  ; 
and  even  if  those  disturbing  causes  —  which  he  and 
Mr.  Parker  so  plentifully  provide,  by  which  the  genesis 
of  religion  is  so  unhappily  marred,  but  which,  alas !  no 
revelation  from  without  can  ever  counteract —  prevent 
its  uniform,  or  nearly  uniform  display,  still  its  principal 
indications  (partial  though  they  may  be  everywhere) 
ought,  at  least,  to  be  everywhere  indifferently  diffused 
throughout  the  race.  Its  manifestation  may  be  spO' 
radiCf  but  it  will  be  in  one  race  as  in  another;  it 
will  not  be  suspiciously  confined  to  one  race  with 
a  peculiarly  felicitous  "  religious  organization,"  or  to 
"two  books"  exclusively  originating  with  that  favored 
race.  _ 

For  his  "  spiritual "  illumination,  it  is  easy  to  see 
Mr.  Newman's  exclusive  dependence  on  that  Bible 
which  he  abjures  as  a  special  revelation.  If  it  has 
not  been  so  to  mankind,  it  has,  at  least,  been  so  to  Mr. 
Newman.  To  it  he  perpetually  runs  for  argument  and 
illustration.  Among  those  who  will  accept  his  infidel- 
ity I  apprehend  there  will  be  few  who  will  not  recoil 
from  his  representations  of  spiritual  experience,  so  ob- 
viously nothing  more  than  a  disguised  and  mutilated 
Christianity.  They  will  say,  that  they  do  not  wish  the 
"  new  cloth  sewed  on  to  the  old  garment "  ;  scarcely  a 
soul  amongst  them  will  sympathize  with  his  souPs 
"sorrows,"  or  share  to  soul's  "  aspirations"! 

But,  however  these  things  may  be,  I  now  proceed  to 


148  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH.  ' 

what  I  acknowledge  is  the  most  weighty  topic  of  my 
argument ;  which  is  to  prove  that,  if  I  acquiesce,  on 
Mr.  Newman's  grounds,  in  the  rejection  of  the  Bible  as 
a  special  revelation  of  God,  I  am  compelled  on  the  very 
same  principles  to  go  a  few  steps  further,  and  to  express 
doubts  of  the  absolutely  divine  original  of  the  Worlds 
and  the  administration  thereof,  just  as  he  does  of  the 
divine  original  of  the  Bible.  If  1  concede  to  Mr.  New- 
man, however  we  may  differ  as  to  the  moral  and  spirit- 
ual faculties  of  man,  that  these  are  yet  the  sole  and 
ultimate  court  of  appeal  to  us ;  that  from  our  "  intui- 
tions "  of  right  and  wrong,  of  "  moral  and  spiritual 
truth,"  be  they  more  perfect  according  to  him,  or  more 
rudimentary  and  imperfect  according  to  me,  we  must 
form  a  judgment  of  the  moral  bearings  of  every  pre- 
sumed external  revelation  of  God,  —  I  cannot  do  other- 
wise than  reject  much  of  the  revelation  of  God  in  his 
presumed  Works  as  unworthy  of  him,  just  as  Mr.  New- 
man does  very  much  in  his  supposed  Word  as  equally 
unworthy  of  him.  Mr.  Newman  says,  "  Only  by  dis- 
cerning that  God  has  Virtues,  similar  in  kind  to  human 
Virtues,  do  we  know  of  his  truthfulness  and  his  good- 
ness  The  nature  of  the  case  implies,  that  the 

human  mind  is  competent  to  sit  in  moral  and  spiritual 
judgment  on  a  professed  revelation,  and  to  decide  (if  the 
case  seem  to  require  it)  in  the  following  tone : — *  This 
doctrine  attributes  to  God  that  which  tve  should  all 
call  harsh,  cruel,  or  unjust  in  man :  it  is  therefore  in- 
trinsically inadmissible ;  for  if  God  may  be  (what  we 
should  call)  cruel,  he  may  equally  well  be  (what  we 
should  call)  a  liar  ;  and,  if  so,  of  what  use  is  his  word 
to  us  ? ' "  *  Similarly  Mr.  Newman  continually  affirms 
that  God  reveals  himself,  when  he  reveals  himself  at  all, 

*  Soul,  p.  58. 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  149 

tr*,fftj|lLlptli* /""^^'C^'^'  2is  he  says  in  his  "  Phases,"-— 
"  Of  our  moral  and  spiritual  God  we  know  nothing 
toUhout,  —  every  thing  within.  It  is  in  the  spirit  that 
we  meet  him,  not  in  the  communications  of  sense."  *  If 
I  acquiesce  in  this  judgment,  I  must  apply  the  reason- 
ing of  the  above  passage  to  the  "external  revelation" 
of  God  in  his  Works,  as  well  as  to  that  in  his  Word; 
and  the  above  reasoning  will  be  equally  valid,  merely 
[substituting  one  word  for  the  other.  We  are  to  decide, 
if  Ihe  case  seem  to  require  it,  in  the  following  tone:  — 
"  These  phenomena  —  this  conduct  —  implies  what  tve 
should  call  in  man  harsh,  or  cruel,  or  unjust;  it  is,  j 
therefore,  intrinsically  inadmissible  as  God^s  work  or/ 
God's  conduct" 

Acting  on  his  principles,  Mr.  Newman  refuses  to 
** depress"  his  conscience  (as  he  says)  to  the  Bible 
standard.  He  affirms,  that  in  many  cases  the  Bible 
sanctions,  and  even  enjoins,  things  which  shock  his 
moral  sense  as  flagrantly  immoral,  and  he  must  there- 
fore reject  them  as  supposed  to  be  sanctioned  by  God. 
He  in  different  places  gives  instances;  —  as  the  sup- 
posed approbation  of  the  assassination  of  Sisera  by  the 
wife  of  Heber,  the  command  to  Abraham  to  sacrifice 
his  son,  and  the  extermination  of  the  Canaanites.  Now>. 
whether  the  Bible  represents  God,  or  not,  in  all  these 
cases,  as  sanctioning  the  things  in  question,  I  shall  not 
be  at  the  pains  to  inquire,  because  I  am  willing  to  take 
it  for  granted  that  Mr.  Newman's  representation  is  per- 
fectly correct.  I  only  think  that  he  ought,  in  consisten- 
cy, to  have  gone  a  little  further.  Let  him  defend,  as  in 
perfect  harmony  with  his  "intuitions"  of  right  and 
wrong,  the  undeniably  similar  instances  which  occur  in 
the  administration  of  the  universe  ;  or,  if  it  be  found 

•  P.  52. 
18  • 


150  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

impossible  to  solve  those  difficulties,  let  him  acknowl- 
edge, either  that  our  supposed  essential  "  intuitions  "  of 
moral  rectitude  are  not  to  be  trusted,  as  applicable  to 
the  Supreme  Being,  and  that  therefore  the  argument 
from  them  against  the  Bible  is  inconclusive ;  or,  that  no 
such  being  exists ;  or,  lastly,  that  He  has  conferred  up- 
on man  an  intuitive  conception  of  moral  equity  and 
rectitude,  —  of  the  just  and  the  unjust,  —  in  most  edi- 
fying contradiction  to  his  own  character  and  proceed- 
ings ! 

Here  Fellowes  broke  in  :  — 

"  If  indeed  there  he  any  such  instances;  but  I  think 
Mr.  Newmdn  would  reply,  that  they  will  be  sought  for 
in  vain  in  the  '  world,'  however  plentiful,  as  I  admit 
they  are,  in  the  Bible." 

"  I  know  not  whether  he  would  deny  them  or  not," 
said  Harrington ;  *'  but  they  are  found  in  great  abun- 
dance in  the  world  notwithstanding,  and  this  is  my 
difficulty.  If  Mr.  Newman  were  the  creator  of  the 
universe,  no  question,  none  of  these  contradictions  be- 
tween *  intuitions  ^  within,  and  stubborn  '  facts  '  with- 
out, would  be  found.  He  has  created  a  God  after  his 
own  mind  ;  if  he  could  but  have  created  a  universe  al- 
so after  his  own  mind,  we  should  doubtless  have  been 
relieved  from  all  our  perplexities.  But,  unhappily,  we 
find  in  it,  as  I  imagine,  the  very  things  which  so  startle 
Mr.  Newman  in  the  Scriptural  representations  of  the  di- 
vine character  and  proceedings.  Is  he  not,  like  all  oth- 
er infidels,  peculiarly  scandalized,  that  God  should  have 
enjoined  the  extermination  of  the  Canaanites  ?  and  yet 
does  not  God  do  still  more  startling  things  every  day  of 
our  lives,  and  which  appear  less  startling  only  because 
we  are  familiar  with  them,  —  at  least,  if  we  believe  that 
the  elements,  pestilence,  famine,  in  a  word,  destruction 
in  all  its  forms,  really  fulfil  his  bidding  ?     Is  there  any 


THE    TIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM. 


m 


difFere.ice  in  the  world  between  the  cases,  except  that 
the  terrible  phenomena  which  we  find  it  impossible  to 
account  for  are  on  an  infinitely  larger  scale,  and  in  du- 
ration as  ancient  as  the  world  ?  that  they  have,  in  fact, 
been  going  on  for  thousands  of  weary  years,  and  for 
aught  you  or  I  can  tell,  and  as  Mr.  Newman  seems  to 
think  probable,  for  millions  of  years  ?  Does  not  a  pesti- 
lence or  a  famine  send  thousands  of  the  guilty  and  the 
innocent  alike  —  nay,  thousands  of  those  who  know  not 
their  right  hand  from  their  left  —  to  one  common  de- 
struction ?  Does,  not  God  (if  you  suppose  it  his  doing) 
swallow  up  whole  cities  by  earthquake,  or  overwhelm 
them  with  volcanic  fires  ?  I  say,  is  there  any  differ- 
ence between  the  cases,  except  that  the  victims  are 
very  rarely  so  wicked  as  the  Canaanites  are  said  to 
have  been,  and  that  God  in  the  one  case  himself  does 
the  very  things  which  he  commissions  men  to  do  in  the 
other  ?  Now,  if  the  thing'  be  wrong,  I,  for  one,  shall 
never  think  it  less  wrong  to  do  it  one's  self  than  to  do  it 
by  proxy." 

"  But,"  said  Fellowes,  rather  warmly,  for  he  felt  rath- 
er restive  at  this  part  of  Harrington's  discourse,  "  it  is 
absurd  to  compare  such  sovereign  acts  of  inexplicable 
will  on  the  part  of  God  with  his  command  to  a  being 
so  constituted  as  man  to  perform  them." 

'"  Absurd  be  it,"  said  Harrington,  "  only  be  so  kind  as 
to  show  it  to  be  so,  instead  of  saying  so.  I  maintain 
that  the  one  class  of  facts  are  just  as  'inexplicable,'  as 
you  call  it,  as  the  other,  and  only  appear  otherwise  be- 
cause, in  the  one  case,  we  daily  see  them,  have  become 
accustomed  to  them  and,  what  is  more  than  all,  cannot 
deny  them,  —  which  last  we  can  so  promptly  do  in  the 
other  case ;  for  Moses  is  not  here  to  contradict  us.  But 
I  rather  think,  that  a  being  constituted  morally  and  in- 
tellectually like  us,  who  had  never  known  any  but  a 


152  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

world  of  happiness,  would  just  as  promptly  deny  that 
God  could  ever  perform  such  feats  as  are  daily  performed 
in  this  world  I  I  repeat,  that,  if  for  some  reasons  ('  inex- 
plicable,' I  grant  you)  God  does  not  mind  doing  such 
/things,  he  is  not  likely  to  hesitate  to  enjoin  them ;  for 
f  reasons  perhaps  equally  inexplicable.  I  say  perhaps ; 
for,  as  I  compare  such  an  event  as  the  earthquake  in 
Lisbon,  or  the  plague  in  London,  with  the  extermina- 
tion of  the  Canaanites,  I  solemnly  assure  you  that  I 
find  a  greater  difficulty,  as  far  as  my  '  intuitions '  go,  in 
supposing  the  former  event  to  have  been  effected  by  a 
divine  agency  than  the  latter.  If  we  take  the  Scripture 
history,  we  must  at  least  allow  that  the  race  thus 
doomed  had  long  tried  the  patience  of  Heaven  by  their 
flagrant  impiety  and  unnatural  vices;  that  they  had 
become  a  centre  and  a  source  (as  we  sometimes  see 
collections  of  men  to  be)  of  raoral  pestilence,  in  the 
vicinage  of  which  it  was  unsafe  for  men  to  dwell;  that, 
as  the  Scriptures  say  (whether  truly  or  falsely,  I  do  not 
inquire),  they  had  '  filled  up  the  measure  of  their  iniqui- 
ties.' Let  this  be  supposed  as  fictitious  as  you  please, 
still  the  whole  proceeding  is  represented  as  a  solemn 
judicial  one  ;  and  supposing  the  events  to  have  occur- 
red just  as  they  are  narrated,  it  positively  seems  to  me 
much  less  difficult  to  suppose  them  to  harmonize  with 
1  the  character  of  a  just  and  even  beneficent  being,  than 
I  those  wholesale  butcheries  which  have  desolated  the 
world,  in  every  hour  of  its  long  history,  without  any 
discrimination  whatever  of  innocence  or  guilt ;  which, 
'  if  they  have  inflicted  unspeakable  miseries  on  the  im- 
mediate victims,  have  produced  probably  as  much  or 
more  in  the  agony  of  the  myriad  myriads  of  hearts 
which  have  bled  or  broken  in  unavailing  sorrow  over 
the  sufferings  they  could  not  relieve.  Such  things  (I 
speak  now  only  of  what  man  has  not  in  any  sense  in- 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM. 


153 


flicted)  are,  in  your  view,  as  undeniably  the  work  of 
God  as  is  the  extermination  of  the  Canaanites  accord- 
ing to  the  Bible.     Why,  if  God  does  not  mind  doing'  ~i 
such  things,  are  we  to  suppose  that  he  minds  on  some  j 
occasions  ordering  them  to  be  done  ;  unless  we  suppose  ! 
that  man  —  delicate  creature  !  —  has  more  refined  intui-  i 
tions  of  right  and  wrong^^aiid  knows  better  what  they  j 
are,  than  God  himself?  '  Now,  Mr.  Newman  and  you 
affirm,  that  to  suppose  God  should  have  enjoined  the 
destruction  of  the  Canaanites  is  a  contradiction  of  our 
moral  intuitions  ;  and  that  for  this  and  similar  reasons 
you  cannot  believe  the  Bible  to  be  the  word  of  God.    I 
answer,  that  the  things  I  have  mentioned  are  in  still 
more  glaring  contradiction  to  such  *  intuitions ' ;  than 
which  none  appears  to  me  more  clear  than  this,  —  that 
the  morally  innocent  ought  not  to  suffer ;  and  I  there- 
fore doubt  whether  the  above  phenomena  are  the  work 
of  God.     I  must  refuse,  on  the  very  same  principle  on 
which  Mr.  Newman  disallows  the  Bible  to  be  a  true 
revelation  of  such  a  Being,  to  allow  this  universe  to  be 
so.     In  equally  glaring  inconsistency  is  the  entire  ad- 
ministration of  this  lower  world  with  what  appears  to 
me  a  first  principle  of  moral  rectitude,  —  namely,  that 
he  who  suffers  a  wrong  to  be  inflicted  on  another,  when 
he  can  prevent  it,  is  responsible   for  the  wrong  itself. 
The  whole  world  is  full  of  such  instances." 

"  Ay,"  said  Fellowes,  eagerly,  "  we  ought  to  prevent 
a  wrong,  provided  we  have  the  right  as  well  as  the 
power  to  interfere." 

"  I  am  supposing  that  we  have  the  right  as  well  as 
the  power ;  as,  for  example,  to  prevent  a  man  from  mur- 
dering his  neighbor,  or  a  thief  from  entering  his  dwell- 
ing. There  are,  no  doubt,  many  acts  which,  from  our 
very  limited  right,  we  should  have  no  business  to  pre- 
vent; as,  for  example,  to  prevent  a  man  from  getting 


154  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH, 

tipsy  at  his  own  table  with  his  own  wine.  But  no  such 
limitation  can  apply  to  Him  who  is  supposed  to  be  the 
Absolute  Monarch  of  the  universe  ;  and  yet  He  (accord- 
ing to  your  view)  notoriously  does  not  interpose  to  pre- 
vent the  daily  commission  of  the  most  heinous  wrongs 
and  cruelties  under  which  the  earth  has  groaned,  and 
hearts  have  been  breaking,  for  thousands  of  years.  You 
will  say,  perhaps,  that  in  all  such  instances  we  must 
believe  that  there  are  some  reasons  for  His  conduct, 
though  we  cannot  guess  what  they  are.  Ah  I  my  friend, 
if  you  come  to  believing^  you  may  believe  also  that  the 
difficulties  involved  in  the  Scriptural  representations  of 
the  Divine  character  and  proceedings  are  susceptible  of 
a  similar  solution.  If  you  come  to  believing^  I  think 
the  Christian  can  believe  as  well  as  you,  and  rather 
more  consistently.     But  let  me  proceed." 

He  then  read  on. 

It  is  plain,  that,  in  accordance  with  our  primitive 
"  moral  intuitions "  (if  we  have  any),  we  should  hold 
him  who  had  the  power  to  prevent  a  wrong,  and  did  not 
use  it,  as  a  participator  and  accomplice  in  the  crime  he 
did  not  prevent.  Applying,  therefore,  the  principles  of 
Mr.  Newman,  I  must  refuse  to  acknowledge  such  con- 
duct on  the  part  of  the  Divine  Being,  and  to  say,  that 
such  things  are  not  done  by  him.  If  I  may  trust  my 
whisper  of  him,  derived  from  analogous  moral  qualities 
in  myself,  I  must  believe  that  an  administration  which 
BO  ruthlessly  permits  these  things  is  not  his  work ;  but 
that  his  power,  wisdom,  and  goodness  have  been 
thwarted,  baffled,  and  overmastered  by  some  "  omnipo- 
tent devil,"  to  use  Mr.  Newman's  expression ;  if  it  be, 
then  that  whisper  of  him  cannot  be  trusted:  the  hea- 
then was  right,  ^^Sunt  superis  suajuraP  In  other  words, 
I  feel  that  I  must  become  an  Atheist,  a  Pantheist,  a 
Manichaean,  or  —  what  I  am  —  a  sceptic. 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  155 

All  these  perplexities  are  increased  when  I  trace 
them  up  to  that  profound  mystery  in  which  they  all 
originate,  -rm  T  meaa^-thapermisgloiL  of.  physical  and 
moraLevi!.-  Either  evil  could  have  been  prevented  or 
not;  if  it  could,  its  immense  and  horrible  prevalence  is 
at  war  with  the  intuition  akeady  referred  to ;  if  it 
could  not,  who  shall  prove  it  ?  I  am  no  more  able 
to  contradict  the  intuitions  of  the  intellect  than  those 
of  the  conscience  ;  and  if  any  thing  can  be  called  a 
contradiction  of  the  former,  it  is  to  be  told  that  a  Being 
of  infinite  power,  wisdom,  and  beneficence  could  not 
construct  a  world  without  an  immensity  of  evil  in  it; 
no  reason  being  assignable  or  even  imaginable  for  such 
a  proposition,  except  the  fact  that  such  a  world  has 
not  been  created !  I  am  therefore  compelled  to  doubt, 
whether  such  a  universe  be  really  the  fabrication  of 
such  a  Being.  It  is  impossible  to  express  my  astonish- 
ment at  the  ease  with  which  Mr.  Newrnan  disposes  of 
the  difficulties  connected  with  the  origin  atid  perpetua- 
tion of  physical  and  moral  evil.  His  arguments  are 
just  two  of  the  most  hackneyed  commonplaces  with 
which  metaphysicians  have  attempted  to  evade  these 
stupendous  difficulties  ;  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say, 
that  there  never  was  a  man  who  was  not  resolved  that 
his  theory  must  stand,  who  pretended  to  attach  any 
importance  to  them.  They  are  most  gratuitously  as- 
sumed, and  even  then  are  most  trival  alleviations ;  a 
mere  plaster  of  brown  paper  for  a  deep-seated  cancer. 

I  certainly  know  of  no  other  man  who  has  stood  so 
unabashed  in  front  of  these  awful  forms.  One  almost 
envies  him  the  truly  childlike  faith  with  which  he 
waves  his  hand  to  these  Alps,  and  says,  "  Be  ye  re- 
moved, and  cast  into  the  sea";  but  the  feeling  is  ex- 
changed for  another,  when  he  seems  to  rub  his  eyes, 
and  exclaim,  "  Presto,  they  are  gone  sure   enough ! " 


156  THE   ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

while  you  still  feel  that  you  stand  far  within  the  cir- 
cumference of  their  awful  shadows. 

As  to  physical  evil,  Mr.  Newman  tells  us,  "  Here  it 
may  be  sufficient  to  remark,  that  the  difficulty  turns 
on  the  Epicurean  assumption,  that  physical  ease  and 
comfort  is  the  most  valuable  thing  in  the  universe: 
but  that  is  not  true  even  with  brutes.  There  is  a  cer- 
tain perfection  in  the  nature  of  each,  consisting  in  the 
full  development  of  all  their  powers,  to  which  the  ex- 
isting order  manifestly  tends As  for  suscepti- 
bility to  p?iin,  it  is  obviously  essential  to  every  part  of 
corporeal  life,  and  to  discuss  the  question  of  degree  is 
absurd.  On  the  other  hand,  human  capacity  for  sorrow 
is  equally  necessary  to  our  whole  moral  nature,  and 
sorrow  itself  is  a  most  essential  process  for  the  perfect- 
ing of  the  soul."  * 

This,  then,  is  the  fine  balm  for  all  the  anguish  under 
which  the  world  has  been  groaning  for  these  thousands 
of  years !  But,  first,  how  does  suffering  tend  to  the  per- 
fection of  the  whole  lower  creation  ?  It  enfeebles,  and 
at  last  destroys  them,  I  know ;  but  I  am  yet  to  learn 
that  it  is  essential  to  the  perfection  of  animal  life. 
Again,  how  does  it  minister  to  that  of  man,  except  he 
be  more  than  the  insect  of  the  day,  of  which  Mr.  New- 
man's theology  leaves  him  in  utter  doubt?  And  if  he 
he  immortal,  how  does  it  operate  beneficially  except  as 
an  instrument  of  moral  improvement  ?  And  how  rare- 
ly (comparatively)  do  we  see  that  it  has  that  effect! 
How  often  is  it  most  prolonged  and  torturing  in  those 
who  seem  least  to  need  it,  and  in  those  who  are  abso- 
lutely as  yet  incapable  of  learning  from  it ;  or,  alas  !  are 
too  evidently  past  learning  from  it !  How  often  do  we 
see,  slowly  sinking  under  the  protracted  agonies  of  con- 

•  Soul,  pp.  43,  44. 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  157 

sumption,  cancer,  or  stone,  all  these  various  classes  of 
mortals,  without  our  being  able  to  assign,  or  even  con- 
jecture, the  slightest  reason  for  such  experiments!  I 
acknowledge  freely,  that  we  can  give  no  reasons  for 
them  ;  but  it  is  to  mock  miserable  humanity  to  give 
such  reasons  as  these ;  doubly  to  mock  it,  if  men  be  the 
ephemeral  creatures  which  Mr.  Newman's  theology 
leaves  in  such  doubt ;  since  in  that  case  we  see  not  only 
(what  we  see  at  any  rate)  that  physical  evil  does  not 
always,  nor  even  in  many  instances,  produce  a  salutary 
moral  effect,  but  that  it  hardly  matters  whether  it  does 
or  not;  for  just  as  the  poor  patient  may  be  beginning 
to  be  benefited  by  his  discipline,  and  generally  in  con- 
sequence of  it,  he  is  unluckily  annihilated;  he  dies  of 
his  medicine!  Surely,  if  physical  evil  be  this  grand 
elixir,  never  was  such  a  precious  balm  so  improvidently 
expended.  We  may  well  say,  only  with  much  more 
reason,  what  the  Jews  said  of  Mary's  box  of  ointment,  — 
"  Why  was  all  this  waste  ?  "  To  be  sure  it  is  "  given  " 
in  abundance  '•  to  the  poor." 

And,  at  the  best,  this  exquisite  reasoning  gives  no 
account  whatever  of  that  suffering  which  falls  upon 
innocent  infancy  and  childhood.  It  destroys  ,ihQ^ 
however,  and  effectually  prevents  their  attaining  the 
"  perfection  "  which  it  is  so  admirable  an  instrument  of 
developing,  and  that  too  before  they  can  be  morally 
benefited  by  the  "  salutary  "  sorrow  it  brings  ! 

"  Susceptibility  to  pain,"  says  Mr.  Newman,  "  is 
essential  to  corporeal  being." 

Yes,  susceptibility  to  pain ;  just  as  a  created  being 
must  be  liable  to  annihilation.  Must  he  be  annihilated  ? 
Just  as  a  hungry  stomach  must  be  liable  to  starvation. 
Must  it  be  starved  ?  The  primary  office  of  susceptibili' 
ties  to  pain  would  seem  to  be  to  forewarn  us  to  provide 
against  it.     They  certainly  have  that  effect.     Does  it 

14 


158  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

necessarily  follow  that  they  must  involve  anguish  and 
death  ?  Unless  it  be  supposed,  indeed,  that  nature, 
having  provided  such  an  admirable  apparatus  of  "  sus- 
ceptibilities "  of  pain,  thought  it  a  thousand  pities  that 
they  should  not  be  employed. 

But  when  it  comes  to  "  moral  evil,"  which  Mr.  New- 
man acknowledges  cannot  be  so  lightly  disposed  of, 
what,  then  ? 

Why,  then  he  says,  "  Let  the  Gordian  knot  be  cut." 

"Well,  what  then  ?  Why,  then  Mr.  Newman  frankly 
"  assumes  "  that  it  is  "  transitory  and  finite,"  *  and  will 
one  day  vanish  from  the  universe,  a  supposition  for 
which  he  condescends  to  give  no  reason  whatever. 

Stat  pro  ratione  voluntas. 

That  this  "  moral  evil "  should  have  existed  at  all, 
much  more  to  so  immense  an  extent,  under  the  admin- 
istration of  supposed  infinite  power,  wisdom,  and  benev- 
olence, is  the  great  difficulty  ;  that  it  will  ever  cease  to 
be,  is  a  pure  assumption  for  the  nonce ;  ]but  if  it  will 
one  day  entirely  vanish,  it  is  gratuitous  to  suppose  it 
might  not  have  been  prevented. 

I,  of  course,  acknowledge  that  we  can  give  no 
answtr  to  the  questions  involved  in  this  transcendent 
mystery,  —  that  our  ignorance  is  absolute ;  but  I  do 
say,  that,  if  I  am  to  trust  to  those  "  intuitions  "  of  the 
Divine  Goodness,  on  whose  warranty  Mr.  Newman 
and  Mr.  Parker  reject  the  Bible,  as  containing  what  is 
unworthy  of  their  conceptions  of  God,  I  am  compelled 
to  proceed  further  in  the  same  direction ;  and  repudiate, 
as  unworthy  of  Him,  not  merely  some  of  the  phenomena 
of  the  Book  which  men  profess  to  be  His  word^  but  also 
some  of  the  phenomena  of  that  universe  which  men 
profess  to  be  His  work.     If  I  can  only  judge,  as  these 

•  Soul,  p.  45. 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  159 

gentlemen  urge,  of  such  a  Being  by  the  analogies  of  my  ( 
own  nature,  no  "  intuition  "  of  theirs  can  possibly  seem  '] 
stronger  than  do  mine,  that  beings  absolutely  innocent 
ought  not  to  suffer  ;  that  to  inflict  suffering  upon  them 
is  injustice  ;  that  to  permit  any  evils  which  we  can  pre- 
vent is  in  like  manner  to  be  accomplices  in  the  crime. 
On  those  very  principles  of  all  moral  judgment  which 
Mr.  Newman  says  are  innate  and  our  only  rule,  I  say    ] 
I  am  compelled  to  these  conclusions ;  for  if  God  does  / 
those  things  which  axe  ordinarily  attributed  to  Him,  ( 
He  acts  as  much  in  contravention  of  these  intuitions  as  \ 
in  any  acts  attributed  to  Him  in  the  Bible.     If  it  be  ^ 
said,  that  there  mat/  be  reasons  for  such  apparent  vio- 
lations of  rectitude,  which  we  cannot  fathom,  I  deny  it 
not;   but   that  is  to  acknowledge   that   the   supposed 
maxims  derived  from  the  analogies  of  our  own  being 
are  most  deceptive  as  applied  to  the  Supreme ;  it  is  to 
remit  us  to  an  act  of  absolute  faith,  by  which,  with  no 
greater  effort,  nor  so  great,  we  may  be  reconciled  to  ] 
similar  mysteries  of  the  Bible.     But  above  all  is  it  to 
do  this,  to  say  that  the  origin  and  permission  of  physi- 
cal and  moral  evil  are  inexplicable ;  and  it  is  to  double 
this  demand  on  faith,  to  declare  that  it  was  all  neces- 
sari/,  and  could  not  be  evaded  in  the  construction  of  the 
universe   even  by  infinite  power,   directed  by  infinite 
wisdom,  and  both  animated  by  an  infinite  benevolence ! 
As  far  as  I  can  trust  my  reason  at  all,  nothing  seems 
more  improbable  ;  and  if  I  receive  it  by  a  transcendent   /i 
exercise  of  faith,  I  may^  as  before,  give  the  Bible  the  / ' 
benefit  of  a  like  act.     I  am  compelled,  therefore,  on 
such  principles,  either  to  adopt  a  Manichaean  hypothesis 
of  the  universe,  or  do  what  I  have  done,  —  adopt  none 
at  all. 

I  was  talking  to  a  friend  on  these  subjects  the  other 
day:  "Ah!  but,"  said  he,  "many  of  those  difficulties 


160 


THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 


you  mention  oppress  every  hypothesis,  —  Christianity 
just  as  much  as  the  rest." 

This,  I  replied,  is  no  answer  to  we  nor  to  you^  if  you 
have  a  particle  of  candor;  still  less  is  it  one  to  the 
Christian^  who  consistently  applies  the  same  principle 
of  absolute  fa.ith  to  things  apparently  a  priori  incredible, 
whether  found  in  the  works  or  in  the  word  of  God. 
But  if  you  think  the  argument  of  any  force,  apply  it  to 
the  next  Christian  you  meet,  and  see  w^hat  answ^er  he 
will  make  to  you ;  it  will  not  trouble  him.  But  it  is  far 
more  ridiculous  addressed  to  me.  I  ask  for  somethingr 
in  the  place  of  that  Bible  of  which  the  faithful  applica- 
tion of  your  own  principles  deprives  me ;  and  when  I 
affirm  that  the  difficulties  of  the  universe  are  no  less 
than  those  of  the  Bible  I  have  surrendered,  you  tell  me 
that  the  perplexities  of  my  new  position  are  no  greater 
than  those  of  the  old!  That  clearly  will  not  do.  I 
must  go  further.  If  I  am  to  yield  to  pretensions  of 
any  kind,  I  would  infinitely  prefer  the  yoke  of  the 
Bible  to  that  of  Messrs.  Parker  and  Newman ;  for  it  is 
to  nothing  else  than  their  dogmatism  I  must  yield,  if  I 
admit  that  the  difficulties  which  compel  me  to  doubt  in 
the  one  case  are  less  than  those  which  compel  me  to 
doubt  in  the  other. 

But  it  is  not  even  true  that  the  difficulties  in  ques- 
tion are  left  where  they  were  by  the  adoption  of  any 
such  theory  as  that  of  either  Mr.  Parker  or  Mr.  New- 
man. I  contend  that  they  are  all  indefinitely  increased. 
The  Bible  does  at  least  give  me  a  plausible  account  of 
some  of  the  mysteries  which  baffle  me :  it  tells  me  that 
man  was  created  holy  and  happy ;  that  he  has  fallen 
from  his  "  excellent  estate  "  ;  and  hence  the  misery,  ig- 
norance, and  guilt  in  which  he  is  involved,  and  which 
liave  rendered  revelation  necessary. 

But  —  and  it  brings  me  to  the  last  step  of  my  ar- 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  161 

gument  —  if  I  accept  the  theory  of  the  universe  pro- 
pounded by  these  writers,  not  only  am  I  left  without 
any  such  approximate  solutions,  or,  if  that  be  thought 
too  strong  a  term,  without  any  such  alleviations,  but  all 
the  difficulties  as  regards  the  character,  attributes,  and 
administration  of  God,  are  increased  a  thousand-fold. 
The  Scripture  account  of  the  "fall," — however  inexpli- 
cable it  may  be  that  God  should  have  permitted  it,  — 
yet  does  expressly  assert  that,  somehow  or  other,  it  is 
man's  fauitj^  not  God's  J  that  man  is  not  in  his  normal 
condition,  nor  in  the  condition  for  which  he  was  creat- 
ed. Dark  as  are  the  clouds  which  envelop  the  Divine 
Ruler,  "  their  skirts  are  tinged  with  gold,- '  —  pervaded 
and  penetrated  throughout  their  dusky  depths  by  that 
mercy  which  assures  us  that,  in  some  intelligible  sense, 
this  condition  of  man  is  contrary  to  the  Divine  Will, 
which,  from  the  first,  resolved  to  remedy  it ;  and  that 
a  day  is  coming  when  what  is  mysterious  shall  be  ex- 
plained, —  so  far,  at  least,  that  what  has  been  "  wrong  " 
shall  be  "  righted."  But  what  is  the  theory  of  the  uni- 
verse propounded  by  these  writers  ?  So  hideous  (I  sol- 
emnly declare  it)  that  I  feel  ten  times  more  compelled 
to  reject  the  universe  as  a  work  of  an  infinitely  gracious, 
wise,  and  powerful  Creator,  than  if  the  difficulties  had 
been  simply  left  where  the  Bible  leaves  them.  Accord- 
ing to  their  theory,  man  is  now  just  what  he  was  at 
first,  —  as  he  came  from  his  Creator's  hand  '^  or^  rather 
in  some  parts  of  the  world  (thanks  to  himself  though) 
a  little  better  than  he  was  originally;  that  God  cast 
man  forth,  so  constituted  by  the  unhappy  mal-admix- 
ture  of  the  elements  of  his  nature,  —  with  such  an  inev- 
itable subjection  of  the  "  idea  "  to  the  "  conception,"  of  the 
"  spiritual  faculty  "  to  "  the  degraded  types,"  —  that  for 
unnumbered  ages  —  for  aught  we  know,  myriads  of  ages 
—  man  has  been  slowly  crawling  up,  a  very  sloth  in 


162  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"progress"  (poor  beast!),  from  the  lowest  Fetichism  to 
Polytheism,  —  from  Polytheism,  in  all  its  infinitude  of 
degrading  forms,  to  imperfect  forms  of  Monotheism  ;  and 
how  small  a  portion  of  the  race  have  even  imperfectly 
reached  this  last  term,  let  the  spectacle  of  the  world's 
religions  at  the  present  moment  proclaim  !  From  the 
more  imperfect  forms  of  Monotheism,  the  race  is  grad- 
ually to  make  "  progress  "  to  something  else,  —  Heav- 
en knows  what!  but  certainly  something  still  far  below 
the  horizon,  —  still  concealed  in  the  illimitable  future. 
For  this  gradual  transformation  from  the  veriest  relig- 
ious grub  into  the  spiritual  Psyche,  man  was  expressly 
equipped  by  the  constitution  of  his  nature, —  he  was 
created  this  grub.  For  all  this  truly  geological  spirit- 
ualism, and  for  all  the  infinitude  of  hideous  supersti- 
tions and  cruel  wrongs  involved  in  the  course  of  this 
precious  development,  Mr.  Parker  tells  us  there  was  a 
necessity^  —  nothing  less  !  It  was  necessary,  no  doubt, 
for  his  logic,  that  he  should  say  so ;  but,  apart  from  his 
own  argumentative  exigencies,  it  is  impossible  even  to 
imagine  any  necessity  whatever.  It  was  an  "  ordeal,"  it 
seems,  through  which  man  was  obliged  to  pass.  What 
is  all  this,  but  to  acknowledge  the  unaccountable  na- 
ture of  the  problem  ? 

With  this  "  religious  "  theory  admirably  coincides 
the  hypothesis  of  man's  having  been  originally  creat- 
ed a  savag-e,  from  which  he  was  gradually  exalted  to 
the  lowest  stages  of  civilization,  —  a  theory  which  I 
thought  had  (in  mere  shame)  been  abandoned  to  some 
few  Deists  of  the  last  century,  or  the  commencement 
of  this.  It  is  true  that  these  writers  do  not  expressly 
indorse  it ;  but  it  is  easy  to  see  that  they  favor  it ;  and 
it  is  most  certain  that  it  alone  is  consistent  with  their 
parallel  theory  of  man's  "  religious  development "  from 
the  vilest   Fetichism   to  (shall  we  say?)  a   mythical 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  163 

Christianity ;  though  even  to  that  very  few  have  yet 
arrived.  According  to  this  theory,  the  Great  Father 
—  supposed  a  being  of  infinite  power,  wisdom,  and 
goodness  —  threw  his  miserable  offspring  on  the  face 
of  the  earth,  with  an  admirable  "  absolute  religion,"  no 
doubt,  .and  an  "  admirable  spiritual  faculty,"  but  the 
*•'  idea  "  so  inevitably  subject  to  thwarting  "  conceptions," 
and  the  "  spiritual  faculty"  so  perpetually  debauched  by 
"  awe  and  reverence,"  and  the  whole  rabble  of  emotions 
and  affections  with  which  it  was  to  keep  company, — 
in  fact,  with  the  elements  of  his  nature  originally  so 
ill  poised  and  compounded,  —  that  everywhere  and  for 
unnumbered  ages  man  has  been  doomed  and  necessi- 
tated, and  for  unnumbered  ages  will  be  doomed  and  ne- 
cessitated, to  wallow  in  the  most  hideous,  degrading, 
cruel  forms  of  superstition,  —  inflicting  and  suffering 
reciprocally  all  the  dreadful  evils  and  wrongs  which  are 
entailed  by  them.  For  this  man  was  created;  such  a 
thing  he  was,  —  through  this  "  ordeal"  he  passes,  —  by 
^original  destination.  If  this  be  the  picture  of  the  Fa- 
ther of  All,  he  is  less  kind  to  his  offspring  than  the  most 
intimate  "  intuitions  "  teach  them  to  be  to  theirs.  The 
voice  of  nature  teaches  them  not  to  expose  their  chil- 
dren ;  the  Universal  Father,  according  to  this  theory,  re- 
morselessly exposed  his  I  Such  a  God,  projected  by  the 
"  spiritual  faculties  "of  Mr.  Newman  and  Mr.  Parker, 
may  be  imagined  to  be  a  more  worthy  object  of  wor- 
ship than  the  "God  of  the  Bible  "  :  he  shall  never  receive 
mine.  If  I  am  to  abjure  the  Bible  because  it  gives  me 
unworthy  conceptions  of  the  Deity,  I  must,  with  more 
reason,  abjure,  on  similar  grounds,  such  a  detestable 
theory  of  man's  creation,  destination,  and  history. 

As  to  that  "  progress"  which  is  promised  for  the  /w- 
ture^  it  is  like  the  necessity  for  the  past,  purely  an  in- 
vention of  Mr,  Parker ;  if  I  receive  it,  I  must  receive  it 


164  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

simply  as  matter  of  prophecy.  If  the  necessity  has 
continued  so  long,  then,  for  aught  I  know,  it  may  con- 
tinue for  ever;  the  evil  is  all  too  certain, —  the  bright 
futurity  is  still  a  futurity.  But  if  it  ever  became  a  re- 
ality, it  would  not  neutralize  one  of  the  dark  imputa- 
tions which  such  a  theory  of  the  original  destination 
and  creation  of  man  casts  on  the  Divine  character ;  not 
to  say,  that,  if  Mr.  Newman's  doubts  of  man's  immor- 
tality be  well  founded,  that  better  future  will  be  of  no 
more  avail  to  the  myriads  of  our  race  who  have  suf- 
fered under  the  long  iron  regime  of  necessity,  than  a  re- 
prieve to  the  wretch  who  was  executed  yesterday ! 

I  told  Harrington  I  must  have  a  copy  of  the  paper 
he  had  just  read.  I  should  like,  with  his  leave,  to  pub- 
lish it. 

-  "  O,  and  welcome,"  said  he.  "  Only  remember  that 
its  tendency  is  to  show  that  there  is  no  tenable  resting- 
place  between  a  revealed  religion  and  none  at  all;  be- 
tween the  Bible  and  scepticism.  If  you  make  men 
sceptics,  —  mind,  it  is  not  my  fault." 

"  I  will  take  the  risk,"  said  I.  "  I  wish  the  contro- 
versy to  be  brought  to  the  issue  you  have  mentioned. 
I  know  there  will  never  be  many  sceptics,  any  more 
than  there  will  be  many  atheists  ;  and  if  men  are  con- 
vinced that  the  Via  Media  is  as  hard  to  find  as  you  sup- 
pose, —  or  as  that  between  Romanism  and  Protestant- 
ism, —  they  will  take  refuge  in  the  Bible.  And  if  it 
be  the  Book  of  God  indeed,  this  is  the  issue  to  which 
the  great  controversy  will  and  ought  to  come.  But 
how  is  it  you  were  not  tempted  to  become  an  atheist 
rather  than  a  sceptic  ?  " 

"  Why,"  said  he,  with  a  smile,  "  the  great  master 
of  the  Modern  Academy  had  fortified  me  against  that, 
Hume,  you  know,  confesses  that,  if  men  be  discovered 


THE    VIA    MEDIA    OF    DEISM.  165 

without  any  impression  of  a  Deity,  —  genuine  athe- 
ists, —  we  may  assume  that  they  will  be  found  the  most 
degraded  of  the  species,  and  only  one  remove  above  the 
brutes.  Now  I  have  no  wish  to  be  set  down  in  that 
category." 

"  Very  different,"  said  I,  "  is  the  account  our  modern 
ttheists  give  of  themselves  :  they  are  contending  that 
the  banishment  of  God  from  the  universe,  by  one  or 
other  of  the  various  theories  of  Atheism  or  Pantheism 
(which  I  take  to  be  the  same  thing,  with  different 
names),  is  the  tendency  of  all  modern  science,  and  that 
when  tliat  science  is  perfect,  God~wiTr~Be^  no  more." 

"  My  dear  uncle,"  replied  Harrington,  "  you  are  in- 
sufficiently informed  in  the  mystery  of  modern  theol- 
ogy. There  are  no  atheists,  properly  speaking;  they 
who  are  so  called  merely  deny  any  personal,  conscious, 
intelligent  sovereign  of  the  universe.  Even  those  who 
call  themselves  so,  and  will  have  it  that  they  are  so,  are 
told  that  they  are  none.  I  myself  have  perused  state- 
ments of  some  of  our  modern  *  spiritualists,'  who  know 
every  thing,  even  other  people's  consciousness  quite  as 
well  as  their  own  (and  perhaps  better),  that  the  said 
atheists  are  mistaken  in  thinking  themselves  such  ;  that 
such  genuine  love  of  the  spirit  of  universal  nature  is 
something  truly  divine,  and  that  they  are  animated  by 
*  a  deeply  religious  spirit,'  though  they  never  suspected 
it!" 

"  Well,"  said  T,  "  if  you  had  too  much  reason,  as  you 
flattered  yourself  (adopting  Hume's  criterion),  to  be- 
come an  atheist,  could  you  not  have  adopted  such  views 
as  those  of  Mr.  G.  Atkinson  and  Miss  Martineau,  who 
both  possess  surely  (as  they  claim  to  possess)  that  '  re- 
ligious reverence '  of  nature  of  which  you  have  just 
spoken  ?  " 

"  Why,"  he  replied,  "  I  am  afraid  that,  if  I  had  too 


166  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH*- 

much  reason  for  the  one,  I  have  not  faith  enough  for 
the  other.  That  the  miracles  and  prophecies  of  the 
Bible  may  possibly  have  been  true,  —  only  the  effect  of 
mesmerism ;  —  that  things  quite  as  wonderful,  or  more 
so,  happen  every  day  by  this  wonderful  agent ;  —  that 
every  phenomenon  that  takes  place  does  so  in  virtue  of 
a  perfectly  wise  law,  without  any  wise  lawgiver  ;  — 
that  this  wise  law  has,  it  seems,  prearranged  that  man 
should  generally  exhibit  an  inveterate  tendency  to  re- 
ligious systems  of  some  kind,  though  all  religions  are 
absurd,  and  persist  in  believing  in  his  free  will,  though 
free  from  a  downright  impossibility ;  —  that  these  con- 
tradictions and  absurdities  of  man  are  the  result  of  an 
irreversible  necessity^  and  yet  that  Mr.  Atkinson  may 
hope  to  correct  them ;  —  that,  by  the  same  necessity, 
man  is  in  no  degree  culpable  or  responsible,  and  yet 
that  Mr.  Atkinson  may  perpetually  blame  him;  —  that 
no  man  can  do  any  thing  '  wrong,'  and  yet  that  till  he 
believes  that^  man  will  never  cease  to  do  it ;  —  that  peo- 
ple may  read  without  their  eyes,  and  distinguish  colors 
as  colors  though  they  are  born  blind  ;  —  that  Bacon  was 
an  atheist,  and  that  this  may  be  proved  by  induction 
from  his  own  writings ;  —  these  and  other  paradoxes, 
which  I  must  believe,  if  I  believe  Mr.  Atkinson,  require 
a  faith  which  it  would  really  be  unreasonable  to  expect 
from  such  a  sceptic  as  I  am." 


July  18.  Till  three  days  ago,  nothing  since  my  last 
date  has  occurred  having  any  special  relation  to  the 
sole  object  of  this  journal.  I  was  glad  to  escape  on  the 
13th  to  a  quiet  church  some  miles  off,  and,  after  a  plain 
and  simple,  but  earnest,  sermon  from  a  venerable  cler- 
gyman (of  whom  I  should  like  to  know  a  little  more), 
I  further  refreshed   my  spirit  by  a  long  and  solitary 


167 

ramble  of  some  hours  through  the  beautiful  scenery  in 
the  midst  of  which  Harrington's  dwelling  is  situated. 
In  the  course  of  it,  I  reviewed  my  own  early  conflicts, 
and  augured  from  them  happier  days  for  my  beloved 
nephew.  I  went  carefully  over  all  the  main  points  of 
the  argument  for  and  against  the  truth  of  Christianity, 
which  in  youth  had  so  often  occupied  me,  and  resolved 
that  on  some  fair  opportunity  I  would  recount  my 
story  to  him  and  Mr.  Fellowes.  I  little  thought  then 
that  I  should  have  a  larger  and  very  miscellaneous 
audience  to  listen  to  me.  But  this  will  account  for 
my  not  being  to  seek  (as  they  say)  when  the  occasion 
presented  itself. 

Three  days  ago  (the  15th)  a  queer  company  assem- 
bled in  Harrington's  quiet  house.  The  conversations 
and  incidents  connected  with  that  day  have  led  me  to 
take  refuge  for  the  last  two  mornings  in  the  solitude  of 
my  own  chamber,  that  I  might,  undisturbed,  recall  and 
record  them  with  as  much  accuracy  and  fulness  as 
possible.  Very  much,  indeed,  that  I  wished  to  remem- 
ber has  vanished ;  but  the  substance  of  what  too  many 
said,  as  well  as  what  I  said  myself,  made  too  deep  an 
impression  to  be  easily  obliterated. 

Be  it  known  to  you,  my  dear  brother,  that  I  have 
been  not  a  little  amused,  I  may  even  say  instructed,  by 
a  trick  played  by  your  madcap  nephew,  for  the  honor 
and  glory,  I  suppose,  of  his  scepticism,  or  for  some  other 
motive,  not  easily  divined.  He  promised  me  signifi- 
cantly an  entertainment,  in  which  I  should  ©njoy  the 
"feast  of  reason  and  the  flow  of  sow/,"  by  which  I 
little  thought  that  he  was  going  to  collect  a  rare  party 
of  "  Rationalists "  and  "  Spiritualists,"  in  fact,  repre- 
sentatives of  all  the  more  prominent  forms,  whether  of 
belief  or  unbelief.     I  may  as  well  call  it  the 


168  the  eclipse  of  faith. 

Sceptic's  Select  Party.  '"    '^^'•■'^ 

You  remember,  I  doubt  not,  the  humorous  paper  in 
the  Spectator,  in  which  Addison  introduces  the  whim- 
sical nobleman  who  used  to  invite  to  his  table  parties 
of  men  (strangers  to  one  another)  all  characterized  by- 
some  similar  personal  defect  or  infirmity.  On  one  oc- 
casion, twelve  wooden-legged  men  found  themselves 
stumping  into  his  dining-room,  one  after  another,  and 
making,  of  course,  a  terrible  clatter ;  on  another,  twelve 
guests,  who  all  had  the  misfortune  to  squint,  amused 
their  host  with  their  ludicrous  cross  lights ;  and  on  a 
third,  the  same  number  of  stutterers  entertained  him 
still  more,  not  only  by  their  uncouth  impediment,  but 
by  the  anger  with  which  they  began  to  sputter  at  one 
another,  on  the  supposition  that  each  was  mocking  his 
neighbor.  A  short-hand  writer,  behind  the  scenes,  was 
employed  to  take  down  the  conversation,  which,  says 
the  witty  essayist,  was  easily  done,  inasmuch  as  one  of 
the  gentlemen  was  a  quarter  of  an  hour  in  saying  "  that 
the  ducks  and  green  peas  were  very  good,"  and  anothei 
almost  an  equal  time  in  assenting  to  it.  At  the  conclu- 
sion, however,  the  derided  guests  became  aware  of  the 
trick  their  entertainer  had  played  upon  them ;  and  from 
their  hands,  quicker  than  their  tongues,  he  was  obliged 
to  make  a  precipitate  retreat.  Our  dinner-party  of  yes- 
terday did  not  break  up  in  any  such  fracas,  nor  was  the 
conversation  so  unhappily  restricted.  Yet  the  company 
was  hardly  better  assorted.  To  bring  it  together,  Har- 
rington ransacked  his  immediate  circle,  and  Fellowes 
unconsciously  recruited  for  him  in  the  university  town. 
Our  host  had  provided  for  our  mutual  edification  an 
Italian  gentleman,  with  whom  he  had  had  some  pleas- 
ant intercourse  on  the  Continent,  (by  the  way  he  spoke 
English  uncommonly  well,)    and  now  staying  with  a 


Roman  Catholic  in  the  neighborhood;  this  gentleman 
himself,  with  whom  Harrington,  by  means  of  his  former 
friend,  has  knocked  up  an  acquaintance  (he  is  a  liberal 
Catholic  of  the  true  British  species) ;  our  acquaintance, 
Feliowes,  with  his  love  of  "  insight "  and  "  spiritual- 
ism '*' !    a  young   surgeon   from ,   a  rare,   perhaps 

unique,  specimen  of  conversion  to  certain  crude  atheis- 
tical speculations  o^"  Mr.  Atkinson  and  Miss  Martineau; 
a  young  Englishman  (an  acquaintance  of  Harring- 
ton's) just  fresh  from  Germany,  after  sundry  semesters 
at  Bonn  and  Tubingen,  five  hundred  fathoms  deep  in 
German  philosophy,  and  who  hardly  came  once  to  the 
surface  during  the  whole  entertainment;  three  Ra- 
tionalists (acquaintances  of  Feliowes),  standing  at 
somewhat  different  points  in  the  spiritual  thermome- 
ter, one  a  devoted  advocate  of  Strauss :  add  to  these  a 
Deist,  no  unworthy  representative  of  the  old  English 
school ;  one  or  two  others  further  gone  still ;  a  Roman 
Catholic  priest,  an  admirer  of  Father  Newman,  who 
therefore  believes  every  thing ;  our  sceptical  friend  Har- 
rington, who  believes  nothing;  and  myself,  still  fool 
enough  to  believe  the  Bible  to  be  "  divine,"  —  and  you 
will  acknowledge  that  a  more  curious  party  never  sat 
down  to  edify  one  another  with  their  absurdities  and 
contradictions. 

Questionable  as  was  the  entertainment  for  the  mind, 
that  for  the  body  was  unexceptionable.  The  dinner 
was  excellent ;  our  host  performed  his  duties  with  ad- 
mirable tact  and  grace;  and  somehow  speedily  put 
every  body  at  his  ease.  Relieved,  according  to  the 
judicious  modern  mode,  of  the  care  of  supplying  the 
plates  of  his  guests,  he  had  eye,  ear,  and  tongue  for 
every  one,  and  leisure  to  direct  the  conversation  into 
what  channel  he  pleased.  He  took  care  to  turn  it  for 
some  time  on  indifferent  topics ;  and  each  man  lost  his 

15 


170 


THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 


reserve  and  his  frigidity  almost  before  he  was  aware; 
so  that,  by  the  time  dinner  was  fairly  over,  every  one 
was  ready  for  animated  conversation.  If  any  one  began 
to  have  queer  suspicions  of  his  neighbors,  he  felt,  as  on 
board  ship,  that  he  was  in  for  it,  and  bound,  by  common 
politeness,  to  make  the  best  of  it. 

The  Deist,  addressing  himself  to  the  Italian  gentle- 
man, asked  him  if  he  had  heard  lately  from  Italy.  He 
replied  in  the  negative. 

"  I  can  tell  you  some  news,  then,"  said  he.  "  They 
say  that  the  head  of  the  illustrious  Guicciardini  family 
has  been  just  imprisoned  at  Florence,  having  been  de- 
tected reading  in  Diodati's  Bible  a  chapter  in  the  Gos- 
pel of  St.  John.  Supposing  the  fact  true,  for  a  moment, 
may  I  ask  if  it  would  be  the  wish  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church,  were  she  to  regain  her  power  in  England, 
to  imprison  every  one  who  was  found  reading  a  chap- 
ter in  John?  If  so,  England  would  have  to  enlarge 
her  prisons." 

"  Not  much,"  said  one  of  the  Rationalist  gentlemen, 
laughing ;  "  for  if  things  go  on  as  they  have  done,  there 
will  not,  in  a  few  years,  be  many  who  will  be  found 
reading  a  chapter  in  John." 

"  Perhaps  so,"  said  Harrington,  smiling,  "  but,  if  for 
the  reason  you  would  assign,  few  will  be  found  in 
church  either;  and  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  might 
perhaps  put  you  in  prison  for  that  instead." 

"  O,  I  will  answer  for  him ! "  said  the  Deist,  who 
knew  something  of  his  plasticity ;  "  our  friend  is  very 
accommodating,  and  though  he  would  not  like  to  go  to 
church,  he  would  still  less  like  to  go  to  prison.  And  to 
church  he  would  go ;  and  look  very  devout  into  the  bar- 
gain. But,  however,  I  should  like  to  hear  what  your 
Italian  guest  has  to  say  to  my  question." 

The  impatience  of  the  English  Catholic  could  not  be 
repressed. 


A  SCEPTIC'S  SELECT  PARTY. 


171 


-««  If,"  said  he,  "  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  were  to 
regain  its  ascendency  to-morrow,  it  would  leave  our 
entire  code  of  laws,  liberties,  and  privileges  just  as  it 
found  them ;  it  is  one  of  the  many  calumnies  with 
which  our  Church  is  continually  treated,  to  say  that  she 
would  act  otherwise  ;  and  were  it  not  so,  I  would  im- 
mediately desert  her." 

The  Catholic  priest  did  not  look  well  pleased  with 
this  frank  avowal. 

"  I  quite  believe  you,"  said  our  host.  "  I  believe  you 
are  too  much  of  an  Englishman  to  say  or  to  act  other- 
wise." 

"  So  do  I,"  said  the  Deist ;  "  I  moreover  agree  with 
you,  that,  if  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  were  to  regain 
her  ascendency  to-morrow,  she  would  leave  all  our 
privileges  intact ;  but  would  she  the  next  day,  and  the 
day  after  that  ?  In  other  words,  is  it  an  essential  prin- 
ciple with  her  to  persecute,  —  as  in  this  instance,  to 
imprison  for  peeping  between  the  leaves  of  the  Bible,  — 
or  is  it  not?  Do  you  think,  Signor,  that  in  such  acts 
the  principles  of  your  Church  are  complied  with  or 
violated?" 

The  Italian  gentleman  looked  perplexed ;  he  pre- 
sumed that  the  Catholic  Church  complied  with  the 
actual  laws  of  every  country ;  and  if  such  country 
chose  to  deny  religious  liberty,  the  Church  did  not  deem 
it  requisite  to  declare  opposition. 

"  I  fear  that  is  no  answer  to  my  question,"  cried  the 
other,  a  little  cavalierly.  "  It  cannot  serve  you,  Signor. 
It  would  not,  indeed,  serve  you  anywhere,  for  we 
know  the  anxiety  with  which  Rome  has  expressly  se- 
cured, in  her  recent  concordat  with  Spain,  the  recogni- 
tion of  the  most  intolerant  maxims.  But  least  can  it 
serve  you  in  the  Papal  States,  where,  unluckily  for  your 
observation,  the  Pope  is  monarch.     Your  remark  would 


172  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

imply  that  your  Church  favored  the  principles  of  relig- 
ious liberty  rather  than  otherwise,  but  did  not  deem  it 
right  to  oppose  the  will  of  civil  governments.  Are  we 
to  understand  by  that,  that  the  chief  of  the  Papal  States 
abhors  as  a  Pope  what  he  does  as  a  sovereign  1  that 
in  the  one  capacity  he  protests  against  what  he  allows 
in  the  other?  No,  no,"  continued  this  somewhat 
brusque  assailant, "  It  is  too  late  to  talk  in  that  way.  If 
the  Church  of  Rome  really  approve  of  religious  liberty, 
—  of  such  principles  as  those  which  govern  England, — 
where  are  her  protests  and  her  efforts  against  intoler- 
ance and  persecution  where  she  still  retains  power? 
It  is  the  least  that  humanity  can  expect  of  her.  If  not, 
let  her  plainly  say  that,  when  she  regains  power  in 
England,  she  will  reform  us  to  the  condition  of  Spain 
and  Italy  in  this  matter.  For  my  part,  I  frankly  ac- 
knowledge, that  I  have  more  respect  for  a  Roman  Cath- 
olic who  proclaims  that  it  is  inconsistent  for  his  Church 
to  tolerate  where  it  has  the  power  to  repress^  because  I 
see  that  that  is  her  uniform  practice,  and  therefore  ought 
to  be  her  avowed  maxim." 

The  Roman  Catholic  priest,  who  is  a  devoted  admirer 
of  Father  Newman,  said  that  he  thought  so  too ;  and 
quoted  some  candid  recent  admissions  to  that  effect 
from  certain  English  Roman  Catholic  periodicals.  "  To 
employ,"  said  he,  "  the  very  words  of  a  recent  convert 
to  us  from  the  Anglican  Church,  '  The  Church  of  Rome 
may  say,  I  cannot  tolerate  you ;  it  is  inconsistent  with 
my  principles ;  but  you  can  tolerate  me,  for  it  is  not 
inconsistent  with  yours.' " 

The  Deist  remarked  that  it  was  straightforward  ;  that 
he  admired  it.  "  Though  as  an  argument,^^  said  he,  "it 
is  much  as  if  a  robber  should  say  to  an  honest  man 
on  the  king's  highway,  '  How  advantageously  I  am 
situated !     You  cannot  rob   me,  for  it  is  inconsistent 


A  sceptic's  select  party.  17^ 

with  your  principles ;  but  I  can  rob  you,  for  I  have 
none.' "  iwi*t«in 

Another  of  the  company  observed  that  he  feared  it 
was  in  vain  for  the  Church  of  Rome  to  contend  that 
she  was  favorable  to  freedom  of  opinion,  in  any  degree 
or  form,  so  long  as  the  "  Index  Expurgatorius  "  was  in 
existence,  or  such  stringent  means  adopted  to  repress 
the  circulation  and  perusal  of  the  Scriptures. 

The  liberal  English  Catholic  again  chafed  at  this 
last  indictment.  "  It  was, "  he  said,  "  another  of  the 
calumnies  with  which  his  Church  was  treated." 

"  Hardly  a  calumny,  my  good  sir,"  replied  the  other, 
"  in  the  face  of  such  facts  as  that  which  gave  rise  to 
the  present  conversation,  of  the  encyclical  letters  of 
Pius  VIL,  Leo  XII.,  Gregory  XVI.,  and  many  other 
Popes,  and  the  well-known  fact  that  it  is  impossible 
to  obtain  in  Rome  itself  a  copy  of  the  Scriptures,  ex- 
cept at  an  enormous  price,  and  even  then  it  must  be 
read  by  special  license.  Pardon  me,"  he  continued, 
still  addressing  the  English  Catholic,  "  I  mean  nothing 
offensive  to  you ;  but  neither  I  nor  any  other  English 
Protestant  can  consent  to  admit  you  sincerely  liberal 
English  Roman  Catholics  to  be  in  a  condition  to  give 
us  the  requisite  information  touching  the  maxims  and 
principles  of  your  Church.  You  have  been  too  long 
accustomed  to  enjoy  and  revere  religious  liberty,  not  to 
imagine  your  Church  sympathizes  with  it ;  you  do  not 
realize  what  she  is  abroad ;  and  if  you  be  sincere  in  con- 
demning such  acts  as  that  which  led  to  this  conversa- 
tion, as  inconsistent  with  her  genuine  principles,  why 
the  ominous  silence  of  you  and  your  co-religionists  in 
all  such  cases  ?  Where  are  your  protests  and  efforts  ? 
How  is  it  you  do  not  denounce  maxims  and  practices 
so  rife  throughout  Papal  Christendom,  since  you  say 
you  would  denounce  them,  if  it  were  attempted  to  real- 
is* 


174 


THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH.  A 


ize  them  here  ?  When  you  protest  with  one  voice 
against  these  things  as  inconsistent  (so  you  say)  with 
the  principles  of  your  Churchy  and  as  therefore  deeply 
dishonoring  her,  —  whether  your  views  on  this  point  be 
right  or  wrong,  —  we  shall  at  least  admit  you  to  have  a 
title  to  give  us  an  opinion  on  the  subject." 

*'  Even  then,  though,"  said  the  Deist,  "  we  may  still 
think  it  safer  to  consult  the  opinions,  and,  what  is  more, 
the  practices,  of  the  vast  majority  of  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic Church,  and  her  conduct  in  the  countries  in  which 
she  holds  undisputed  sway,  and  therefore  I  am  anxious 
to  hear  whether  the  Signer  would  justify  imprisonment 
for  reading  the  Bible." 

Our  host  seemed  to  think  that  the  conversation  had 
proceeded  in  this  direction  quite  far  enough  ;  aud  lest 
his  foreign  guest  should  be  made  uncomfortable  by 
these  close  inquiries,  observed,  sarcastically,  that  he 
was  glad  to  find  that  the  querists  were  so  anxious  to 
secure  the  inestimable  privilege  of  freely  reading  the 
Scriptures.  "  It  is  the  more  admirable,"  said  he  to  the 
last  speaker,  "  as  I  am  aware  it  is  most  disinterested ; 
you  having  too  little  value  for  the  Scriptures  to  read 
them  yourself.  S>ic  vos  non  vobis  :  you  labor  for  others. 
You  remind  me  of  the  colloquy  in  the  *  Citizen  of  the 
World,'  between  the  debtor  in  jail  and  the  soldier 
outside  his  prison  window.  They  were  discussing,  you 
recollect,  the  chances  of  a  French  invasion.  *  For  my 
part,'  cries  the  prisoner,  *  the  greatest  of  my  appre- 
hensions is  for  our  freedom  ;  if  the  French  should  con- 
quer, what  would  become  of  English  liberty  ?  '  '  It  is 
not  so  much  our  liberties,'  says  the  soldier,  with  a  pro- 
fane oath,  '  as  our  religion,  that  would  suffer  by  such  a 
change ;  ay,  our  religion,  my  lads  ! '  " 

The  company  laughed,  and  the  assailants  forgot  the 
former  topics      Our  host  went  on  further  to  encourage 


A  sceptic's  select  party.  175 

his  foreign  guest,  though  in  a  left-handed  way,  with  a 
gravity  which,  if  I  had  not  known  him,  would  not  only 
have  staggered,  but  even  imposed  upon  me. 

"  For  my  part,"  said  he,  "  my  good  Sir,  if  I  were 
you,  I  should  not  hesitate  to  acknowledge  at  once  that 
it  is  not  only  the  true  policy^  but  the  solemn  duty^  of 
the  Church  of  Rome  to  seclude  as  much  as  possible  the 
Scriptures  from  the  people."  The  gentleman  looked 
gratified,  and  the  guests  were  all  attention.  "  In  my 
judgment  much  more  can  be  said  on  behalf  of  the  prac- 
tice than  at  first  appears  ;  and  if  I  sincerely  believed 
all  you  do,  I  should  certainly  advocate  the  most  stringent 
measures  of  repression." 

The  foreigner  began  to  look  quite  at  his  ease.  "  For 
example,"  continued  Harrington,  in  a  very  quiet  tone, 
"  supposing  I  believed,  as  you  do,  that  the  Holy  Virgin 
is  entitled  to  all  the  honors  which  you  pay  her,  so 
that,  as  is  well  known,  in  Italy  and  other  countries, 
she  even  eclipses  her  Son,  and  is  more  eagerly  and 
fondly  worshipped,  —  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to 
peruse  the  meagre  accounts  given  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment of  this  so  prominent  an  object  of  Catholic  rever- 
ence and  worship,  —  to  read  the  brief,  frigid,  not  to  say 
harsh  speeches  of  Christ,  —  to  contemplate  the  stolid- 
ity of  the  Apostles  with  regard  to  her,  throughout  their 
Epistles,  —  never  even  mentioning  her  name,  —  I  say 
it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  read  all  this  without 
having  the  idea  suggested  that  it  was  never  intended 
that  I  should  pay  her  such  homage  as  you  demand  for 
her,  or  without  feeling  suspicious  that  the  New  Testa- 
ment disowned  it  and  knew  nothing  of  it." 

"  Very  true,"  said  the  Italian  ;  "  I  must  say  that  I  have 
often  felt  that  there  is  such  a  danger  to  myself." 

"  Similarly,  what  a  shock  would  it  perpetually  be 
to  my  deep  reverence  for   the    spiritual    head  of  the 


176  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

Church,  and  my  conviction  of  his  undoubted  inherit- 
ance, from  the  Prince  of  the  Apostles,  of  his  august 
prerogatives,  to  find  no  trace  of  such  a  personage  as 
the  Pope  in  the  sacred  page,  —  the  title  of  *  Bishop  of 
Rome '  never  whispered,  —  no  hint  given  that  Peter  was 
ever  even  there !  I  really  think  it  would  be  impossible 
to  read  the  book  without  feeling  my  flesh  creep  and  my 
heart  full  of  doubt.  Similarly,  take  that  stupendous 
mystery  of  *  transubstantiation ' ;  though  it  seems  suflGi- 
ciently  asserted  in  one  text,  which  therefore  it  were 
well  (as  is,  indeed,  the  practice  with  every  pious  Catho- 
lic) continually  to  quote  alone,  yet,  when  I  look  into 
other  portions  of  the  New  Testament,  I  see  how  per- 
petually Christ  is  employing  metaphors  equally  strong, 
without  any  such  mystery  being  attached  to  them.  I 
cannot  but  feel  that  I  and  every  other  vulgar  reader 
^ould  be  sure  to  be  exposed  to  the  peril  of  suspecting 
that  in  that  single  case  a  metaphorical  meaning  was 
much  more  probable  than  so  great  a  mystery." 

"  You  reason  fairly,  my  dear  Sir,"  said  the  Italian. 

"  4-g^ii^)"  continued  Harrington,  blandly  bowing  to 
the  compliment,  "  believing,  as  I  should,  in  the  efficacy 
of  the  intercessions  of  the  saints,  in  the  worship  of 
images,  in  seven  sacraments,  in  indulgences,  and  the 
necessity  of  observing  a  ritual  incomparably  more  elab- 
orate than  an  undeveloped  Christianity  admitted,  how 
very,  very  apt  I  should  be  to  misinterpret  many  pas- 
sages, both  in  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New !  How 
is  it  possible  that  the  vulgar  reader  should  be  able  to 
limit  the  command  not  to  bow  down  *  to  ant/  graven 
image '  to  its  true  meaning,  —  that  is,  ^  to  any  image ' 
except  those  of  the  Virgin  and  all  the  saints  ;  to  inter- 
pret aright  the  passages  which  speak  so  absolutely 
about  the  one  Mediator  and  Intercessor,  when  there  are 
thousands !    How  will  he  be  necessarily  startled  to  find 


A  sceptic's  select  party.  177 

*  seven '  sacraments  grown  out  of  '  two ' !  how  will  he 
be  shocked  at  the  apparent  —  of  course  ow/y  apparent 
—  contempt  with  which  St.  Paul  speaks  of  ritual  and 
ceremonial  matters,  of  the  futility  of  '  fasts '  and  dis- 
tinctions of  *  meats  and  drinks,'  of  observing  *  days  and 
months  and  years,'  and  so  on.  His  whole  language, 
I  contend,  would  necessarily  mislead  the  simple  into 
heresies  innumerable.  Of  numberless  texts,  again,  even 
if  the  meaning  were  not  mistaken,  the  true  meaning 
would  never  be  discovered  unless  the  Church  had  de- 
clared it.  Who,  for  example,  would  have  supposed 
that  the  doctrine  of  the  Pope's  supremacy  and  universal 
jurisdiction  lay  hid  under  expressions  such  as  *  I  say 
unto  thee  that  thou  art  Peter,'  and  *  Feed  my  sheep ' ; 
or  that  the  two  swords  of  the  Prince  of  the  Apostles 
meant  the  temporal  and  spiritual  authority  with  which 
he  was  invested  ?  Under  such  circumstances,  I  must 
say,  that,  if  I  were  a  devout  Catholic,  I  should  plead  for 
the  absolute  suppression  of  a  book  so  infinitely  likely  — 
nay,  so  necessarily  certain  —  to  mislead." 

"  It  is  precisely  on  that  ground,"  said  the  Italian, 
"  and  on  that  ground  only,  the  welfare  of  the  Church, 
that  our  Holy  Mother  does  not  approve  of  the  Bible 
being  read  generally.  The  true  theory  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  would  never  be  elicited  from  it." 

"  Precisely  so,"  said  our  host,  gravely ;  "  I  am  sure  it 
could  not." 

"  But  then,"  remarked  our  friend,  the  Deist,  "  since 
the  Church  of  Rome  holds  this  book  to  be  the  inspired 
revelation  of  God  to  mankind,  is  it  not  singular  to  say 
that  this  *  revelation '  requires  to  be  carefully  concealed 
from  mankind;  that  the  Bible  is  invaluable,  indeed,  but 
only  while  it  is  unread  ;  and  that,  in  fact,  the  Church 
knows  herself  better  than  Jesus  Christ  himself  did?  for 
in  that  book  we  are  supposed  to  have  the  words  of 


178  THE    ECLIPSE    OP    FAITH. 

Him  and  her  founders,  and  yet  it  seems  they  could  only 
mislead !  *  Never  man  spake  like  this  man/  may  well 
be  said  of  Christ,  if  this  were  true." 

"  Never  mind  him,  Signor,"  said  our  host.  "  He 
secretly  cannot  but  approve  of  your  end^  though  he  dis- 
approves the  meansy     The  Deist  looked  surprised. 

"  Why,  have  you  not  sometimes  said  that  you  be- 
lieve the  Bible  to  be,  in  many  respects,  a  most  per- 
nicious book?  that  many  of  the  most  obstinate  and 
dangerous  prejudices  of  mankind  Eire  principally  due 
to  it  ?  and  that  you  wish  it  were  in  your  power  to  de 
stroy  it  ?  " 

"  Well,  I  certainly  have  thought  so,  if  not  said  so." 

"  Then  you  approve  of  the  end,  though  you  disap- 
prove of  the  means.  You  ought  to  thank  our  friend 
lere,  and  regret  that  his  work  is  not  done  more  effectu- 
ally. But  enough  of  this.  I  must  not  have  my  re- 
spected Roman  Catholic  guests  alone  put  on  the  de- 
fensive. The  Signor  fairly  tells  us  what  his  system  is 
in  relation  to  the  Bible,  and  why  he  would  place  it 
under  lock  and  key;  he  tells  you  also  what  better 
+hing  he  substitutes  when  he  removes  the  Bible.  I 
eally  think  it  is  but  fair  and  candid  in  you  to  do  as 
much.  I  know  you  all  believe  that  you  are  not  only 
in  quest  of  religious  truth,  but  have  found  it  to  some 
extent  or  other:  —  for  my  own  part  I  am  exempted 
from  speaking ;  for  I  have  given  over  the  search  in 
despair." 

This  frank  acknowledgment  was  followed  by  some 
highly  curious  conversation,  of  which  I  regret  my  in- 
ability to  recall  all  the  particulars.  Suffice  it  to  say, 
that  there  were  not  two  who  were  agreed  either  as  to 
the  grounds  on  which  Christianity  was  deemed  a  thing 
of  naught,  or  on  what  was  to  be  substituted  in  its 
place ;  one  even  had  his  doubts  whether  any  thing  need 


A    SCEPTIC'S    SELECT    PARTY.  179 

be  substituted,  and  another  thought  that  any  thing 
might  be.  One  of  the  Rationalists  was  a  little  offended 
at  being  supposed  willing  to  "  abandon  "  the  Bible  at 
all ;  he  declared,  on  the  contrary,  his  unfeigned  rever- 
ence for  the  New  Testament  at  least,  as  containing,  in 
larger  mass  and  purer  ore  than  any  other  book  in  the 
world,  the  principles  of  ethical  truth;  that  he  was  will- 
ing even  to  admit  —  with  exquisite  naivete  —  that  it 
was  inspired  in  the  same  sense  in  which  Plato's  Dia- 
logues and  the  Koran  were  inspired;  he  merely  dis- 
pensed with  all  that  was  supernatural  and  miraculous 
and  mystical!  The  Deist  laughed,  and  told  him  that 
he  believed  just  as  much,  if  that  constituted  a  Chris- 
tian. "  I  believe,"  said  he,  "  that  the  New  Testament 
is  quite  as  much  inspired  as  the  Koran  of  Mahomet; 
and  that  it  contains  more  of  ethical  truth  (however  it 
came  there)  than  is  to  be  found  in  any  other  book  of 
equal  bulk.  But,"  he  proceeded,  "  if  you  dispense  with 
all  that  is  miraculous  in  the  facts,  and  all  that  is  pecu- 
liar and  characteristic  in  the  doctrines,  —  that  is,  all 
which  discriminates  Christianity  from  any  other  relig- 
ion, —  I  am  afraid  that  your  Christianity  is  own  born 
brother  to  my  Infidelity.  As  for  your  reverence  for  this 
inspired  book,  since  you  must  reject  ninety  per  cent,  of 
the  whole,  it  seems  to  me  very  gratuitous ;  equally  so^ 
whether  you  suppose  the  compilers  believed  or  disbe- 
lieved the  facts  and  doctrines  you  reject ;  if  the  former, 
and  they  were  deceived,  they  must  have  been  inspired 
idiots ;  if  the  latter,  and  were  deceiving  others,  they 
were  surely  inspired  knaves.  For  my  part,"  he  con- 
tinued, "  while  I  hold  that  the  book  somehow  does 
unaccountably  contain  more  of  the  morally  true  and 
beautiful  than  any  book  of  equal  extent,  I  also  hold 
that  Christianity  itself  is  a  pure  imposture  from  begin- 
ning to  end." 


180  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

This  coarse  avowal  of  adherence  to  the  elder,  and, 
after  all,  more  intelligible  deism,  brought  down  upon 
him  at  once  two  of  the  company.  One  was  the  dis- 
ciple of  Strauss  (I  mean  as  regards  his  theory  of  the 
origin  of  Christianity,  not  as  regards  his  Pantheism) ; 
the  other  a  Rationalist,  with  about  the  same  small  tat- 
ters of  Christianity  fluttering  about  him,  but  who  was 
a  little  disposed,  like  so  many  German  theologians,  to 
consider  Strauss  as  somewhat  passe.  Unhappily,  they 
got  athwart  each  other's  bows  shortly  after  they  came 
into  action.  They  both  enlarged  —  really  in  a  very 
edifying  manner,  I  could  have  listened  to  them  for 
an  hour  —  on  the  absurdity  of  the  Deist's  argument 
"  What ! "  cried  one ;  "  the  purest  system  of  ethics 
from  the  most  shameless  impostors  ! "  "  And  what  do 
you  make  of  the  infinitely  varied  and  inimitable  marks 
of  simplicity  and  honesty  in  the  writers  ?  "  cried  the 
other.  "  And  who  does  not  see  the  impossibility  of 
getting  up  the  miracles  so  as  to  impose  upon  a  world  of 
bitter  and  prejudiced  enemies  in  open  day?"  exclaimed 
the  Rationalist.  "  They  were  obviously  mere  myths," 
cried  the  Straussian.  "  That  I  must  beg  to  doubt," 
said  the  other.  And  now,  as  they  proceeded  to  give 
each  his  own  solution  of  the  difficulty,  the  scene  be- 
came comic  in  the  extreme.  The  Rationalist  ridiculed 
the  notion  that  nations  and  races,  all  of  whom,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  must  have  been  prejudiced  against 
such  myths  as  those  of  Christianity,  could  originate  or 
would  believe  them ;  and  still  more,  the  notion  that  in 
so  short  a  space  of  time  these  wildest  of  wild  legends 
(if  legends  at  all)  could  induce  the  world  to  acquiesce 
in  them  as  historic  realities !  In  his  zeal  he  even  said, 
that,  though  not  altogether  satisfied  with  it,  he  would 
sooner  believe  all  the  frigid  glosses  by  which  the  school 
of  Paulus  had  endeavored  to  resolve  the  miracles  into 


misunderstood  "  natural  phenomena."  As  the  dispute 
became  more  animated  between  these  three  champions, 
they  exhibited  a  delicate  trait  of  human  nature,  which 
I  saw  our  sceptical  host  most  maliciously  enjoyed. 
Each  became  more  anxious  to  prove  that  his  mode  of 
proving  Chiistianity  false  was  the  true  mode,  than  to 
prove  the  falsehood  of  Christianity  itself.  "  I  tell  you 
what,"  said  the  Straussian,  with  some  warmth,  "  sooner 
than  believe  all  the  absurdities  of  such  an  hypothesis 
as  that  of  Paulus,  I  could  believe  Christianity  to  be 
what  it  professes  to  be."  "  I  may  say  the  same  of  that 
of  Strauss,"  said  the  other,  with  equal  asperity;  "if  I 
had  no  better  escape  than  his,  I  could  say  to  him,  as 
Agrippa  to  Paul,  *  Almost  thou  persuadest  me  to  be  a 
Christian.'  "  "  For  my  part,"  exclaimed  the  Deist,  who 
was  perfectly  contented  with  his  brief  solution,  —  the 
difficulties  of  the  problem  he  had  never  had  the  patience 
to  master,  —  "I  should  rather  say,  as  Festus  to  Paul, 
*  Much  learning  has  made  you  both  mad':  and  sooner 
than  believe  the  impossibilities  of  the  theory  of  either, — 
sooner  than  suppose  men  honestly  and  guilelessly  to 
have  misled  the  world  by  a  book  which  you  and  I  ad- 
mit to  be  a  tissue  of  fables,  legends,  and  mystical  non- 
sense, —  I  could  almost  find  it  in  my  heart  to  go  over 
to  the  Pope  himself." 

"  Good,"  whispered  our  host  to  me,  who  sat  at  his 
left  hand;  "we  shall  have  them  all  becoming  Chris- 
tians, by  and  by,  just  to  spite  one  another."  The 
admirer  of  Mr.  Atkinson  and  Miss  Martineau  here 
reminded  the  company  that  the  miracles  of  the  New 
Testament  might  be  true,  —  only  the  result  of  mesmer- 
ism.    "  Christ,"  said  he,  "  to  employ  the  words  of  Mr. 

Atkinson,   was    constitutionally    a    clairvoyant 

Prophecy  and  miracle  and  inspiration  are  the  effects 
of  abnormal  conditions  of  man Prophecy,  clair- 

16 


182  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

voyance,  healing  by  touch,  visions,  dreams,  revelations, 
....  are  now  knoicn  to  be  simple  matters  in  nature, 
which  may  be  induced  at  will,  and  experimented  upon 
at  our  firesides,  here  in  England  (climate  and  other 
circumstances  permitting),  as  well  as  in  the  Holy 
Land."  *  But  no  one  seemed  prepared  to  receive  this 
hypothesis.  At  last  our  host,  addressing  the  Deist, 
said,  "  But  you  forget,  Mr.  M.,  that,  though  you  find  it 
insurmountably  difficult  to  conceive  a  book  full  of  lies 
(as  you  express  it)  to  have  been,  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously, the  product  of  honest  and  guileless  minds, 
you  ought  to  find  it  a  little  difficult  to  conceive  a  book 
(as  you  admit  the  New  Testament  to  be)  of  profound 
moral  worth  produced  by  shameless  impostors.  But 
let  that  pass.  Let  us  assume  that  Christianity,  as  a 
supernaturally  revealed  and  miraculously  authenticated 
system,  is  false,  though  you  are  dolefully  at  variance  as 
to  how  it  is  to  be  proved  so  ;  let  us  assume,  I  say,  that 
this  system  is  false,  and  dismiss  it.  I  am  much  more 
anxious  to  hear  what  is  the  positive  system  of  religious 
truth,  which  you  are  of  course  each  persuaded  is  the 
true  one.  I  have  left  off  to  ^  seek,'  but  if  any  one  will 
find  the  truth  for  me  without  my  *  seeking'  it,  how  re- 
joiced shall  I  be!" 

Painful  as  were  the  "  revelations "  which  ensued,  I 
would  not  have  missed  them  on  any  account.  "  In  vino 
veritas,^^  says  the  proverb  which  on  this  occasion  lied 
most  vilely  ;  yet  it  was  true  in  the  only  sense  in  which 
"  Veritas  "  is  there  used ;  for  there  was  unbounded  can- 
dor and  frankness,  under  the  inspiring  hospitality  of 
our  host,  aided  by  his  skilful  management  of  the  con- 
versation. Nor  was  there,  I  am  bound  to  say,  much 
of  coarse   ribaldry,   even  from  the   free-spoken   repre- 

*  He  cited  the  substance  of  these  sentiments.    I  have  since  referred  to, 
and  here  quote,  the  ipsissima  verba.    See  "Letters,"  &c.,  pp.  175,  212. 


183 

sentative  of  the  Tindals  and  Woolstons  of  other  days. 
But  the  varieties  of  judgment  and  opinion  in  that 
small  company  were  almost  numberless.  Fellowes,  )y| 
and  two  of  the  Rationalists,  were  firm  believers  in  the  '  j 
theory  of  "  insight "  ;  that  the  human  spirit  derives,  by 
immediate  intuition  from  the  "  depths  "  of  its  conscious-  ^ 
ness,  a  "  revelation  of  religious  and  spiritual  truth." 
They  differed,  however,  as  to  several  articles ;  but  es- 
pecially as  to  the  little  point,  whether  the  fact  of  man's 
future  existence  was  amongst  the  intimations  of  man's 
religious  nature ;  one  contending  that  it  was,  another 
that  it  was  not,  and  Fellowes,  as  usual,  with  several 
more  of  the  company,  declaring  that  their  conscious- 
ness told  them  nothing  about  the  matter  either  way. 
But  when  some  one  further  declared,  amidst  these 
very  disputes,  that  this  internal  revelation  was  so  clear 
and  plain  as  not  only  to  anticipate  and  supersede  any 
"external"  revelation,  but  to  render  it  "impossible" 
to  be  given,  our  host  suddenly  broke  out  into  a  fit  of 
laughter.  The  disputants  were  silent,  and  every  one 
looked  to  him  for  an  explanation.  He  seemed  to  feel 
that  it  was  due,  and,  after  apologizing  for  his  rude- 
ness, said,  that,  while  some  of  them  were  asserting  man's 
clear  internal  revelation,  he  could  not  help  thinking  of 
the  whimsical  contrast  presented  by  the  diversified 
speculations  and  opinions  of  even  this  little  party,  and 
the  infinitely  more  whimsical  contrast  presented  by  the 
gross  delusions  of  polytheism  and  superstition,  which  in 
such  endless  variations  of  form  and  unchanging  identity 
of  folly  had  misled  the  nations  of  the  earth  for  so  many 
thousands  of  years.  "And  just  then,"  said  he,  "it 
occurred  to  me  what  a  curious  commentary  it  would 
be  on  the  asserted  unity  and  sufficiency  of  *  internal 
revelation,'  if  the  <  Great  Exhibition  of  the  Industry 
of  all  Nations '  were  followed  up  by  a  *  Great  Exhibi- 


184 


THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 


tion  of  the  Idolatry  of  all  Nations  '  under  the  same  roof. 
Thither  n  ight  be  brought  specimens  of  the  ingenious 
handicraft  of  men  in  the  manufacture  of  deities ;  we 
might  have  the  whole  process,  in  all  its  varieties,  com- 
plete ;  the  raw  material  of  a  God  in  a  block  of  stone  or 
wood,  and  the  most  finished  specimen  in  the  shape  of  a 
Phidian  Jupiter ;  the  countless  bits  of  trumpery  which 
Fetichism  has  ever  consecrated;  the  divine  monsters 
of  ancient  Egypt,  and  the  equally  divine  monsters 
of  modern  India ;  the  infinite  array  of  grim  deformities 
hallowed  by  American,  Asiatic,  and  African  super- 
stition. I  imagined,  notwithstanding  the  vastness  of 
that  Crystal  Pantheon,  there  would  still  be  crowds  of 
their  godships  who  would  be  obliged  to  wait  outside, 
having  come  too  late  to  exhibit  their  perfections  to  ad- 
vantage. However,  as  I  went  in  fancy  up  the  long 
aisles,  and  saw,  to  the  right  and  the  left,  the  admiring 
crowds  of  worshippers,  grimacing,  and  mowing,  and 
prostrating  themselves,  with  a  folly  which  might  lead 
one  reasonably  to  suppose,  that,  miserable  as  were  the 
gods,  they  were  gods  indeed  compared  with  such  wor- 
shippers, I  imagined  my  worthy  friend  Fellowes  in  the 
corner  where  the  Bible,  in  its  120  languages,  is  now 
kept,  employed  in  delivering  a  lecture  on  the  admirable 
clearness  of  those  intuitions  of  spiritual  truth  which 
constitute  each  man's  particular  oracle,  and  the  super- 
fluity of  all  *  external '  revelation.  This  was,  I  confess, 
a  little  too  much  for  my  gravity,  and  I  was  involunta- 
rily guilty  of  the  rudeness  for  which  I  now  apologize." 
It  was  certainly  a  ridiculous  vision  enough ;  and  we 
made  ourselves  very  merry  by  pursuing  it  for  a  little 
while. 

Presently  the  company  resumed  their  solutions  of  the 
great  problem.  The  Deist  remarked,  "  that  one  and 
only  one  thing  was  plain,  and  indubitable,"  —  for  he 


186 

was  a  dogmatist  in  his  way ;  —  it  was,  "  that  intellect 
and  power  to  an  indefinite  extent  had  been  at  work  in 
the  universe,  but  whether  the  Being  to  whom  these 
attributes  belonged  took  any  cognizance  of  man,  or  his 
actions,  he  had  never  been  able  to  make  up  his  mind." 
"  Yet  surely  it  does  make  a  slight  difference,"  said  Har- 
rington, "  since  if  God  takes  no  cognizance  of  man, 
then,  as  Cicero  long  ago  remarked  of  the  idle  dogs  of 
Epicurus,  —  I  mean  gods  of  Epicurus,  I  beg  their  par- 
don, but  really  it  does  not  matter  which  consonant 
comes  first,  —  atheism  and  deism  are  much  the  same 
thing."  "  Why,"  said  the  Deist,  "  there  is  as  much  dif- 
ference as  in  the  theories  of  our  *  intuitional '  friends 
here,  one  of  whom  admits,  and  another  denies,  the 
future  existence  of  man  ;  for  if  we  be  the  ephemeral 
insects  the  latter  supposes,  it  little  matters  what  system 
of  religion  we  espouse  or  abjure.  However,  I  am  clear 
that,  if  God  require  any  duty  of  us,  it  is  that  we  should 
reverence  him  as  the  Creator  of  all  things,  —  prayer  to 
him  is  an  absurdity,  —  and  perform  those  offices  of 
honest  men  which  are  so  clearly  the  dictates  of  con- 
science, —  the  reward  and  punishment  being  exclusively 
the  result  of  present  laws.^^ 

"  Which  laws,"  said  his  next  neighbor,  "  often  secure 
no  reward  or  punishment  at  all, — or  rather,  often  give 
the  reward  to  the  vice  of  man,  and  the  punishment  to 
his  virtue."  "  Very  true,"  rejoined  the  Deist,  "  and  I 
must  say,"  —  sagely  shaking  his  head,  —  "that  such 
things  make  me  often  suspect  the  whole  of  that  slippery, 
uncertain  thing  called  '  natural  religion,*  whether  as 
taught  by  the  elder  deists  or  modified  by  our  modern 
spiritualists.  Surely  they  may  be  abundantly  charged 
with  the  same  faults  with  which  they  tax  the  Christian ; 
for  they  are  full  of  interminable  disputes  about  the 
*  truths    or  *  sentiments '  of  their  theology." 

16* 


186  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH.  * 

One  of  those  who  had  gone  further  than  our  Deist 
felt  disposed  to  question  all  "  immutable  morality  "  and 
original  "  dictates  of  conscience."  "  I  doubt,^^  said  he, 
<^  whether  those  dictates  are  any  clearer  than  those 
dogmas  of  '  natural  religion  '  which  have  been  so  justly 
'oppugned;  and  I  judge  so  for  the  same  reason,  —  the 
endless  disputes  of  men  with  regard  to  the  source, 
the  rule,  the  obligation  of  what  they  call  duty ;  and 
which  are  exactly  similar  to  the  disputes  which  we 
charge  upon  the  Natural  Religionist  and  the  Christian." 
And  here  he  ran  through  half  a  dozen  of  the  two  score 
theories  which  the  history  of  ethics  presents,  making 
rare  work  with  Plato  and  Aristotle,  Hobbes,  Cud  worth, 
Mandeville,  and  Bentham.  "  Meantime,"  he  conclud- 
ed, "  we  do  see,  in  point  of  fact,  that  the  moral  rule  is 
most  flexible,  and  to  an  indetermitiate  degree  the  creature 
of  association,  custom,  and  education,  so  that  I  am  in- 
clined to  think  that  that  alone  is  obligatory  which  the 
positive  laws  and  institutions  of  any  society  render 
binding."  "  So  that,"  cried  Harrington,  "  a  man  both 
may  and  ought  to  thieve  in  ancient  Sparta,  may  expose 
his  parents  in  Hindostan,  and  commit  infanticide  in 
China !  "  "  It  is  a  pity,"  archly  whispered  the  Italian 
guest,  *<  that  this  gentleman  was  not  born  in  China." 

"  It  is  a  respectable,  but  very  old  speculation,"  said 
Harrington,  "  of  which  many  ancient  moralists  avowed 
themselves  the  advocates,  but  of  which  it  is  only  fair  to 
admit  that  Plato  and  many  other  heathens  were  heartily 
ashamed." 

It  seemed  as  if  the  bathos  of  theological  and  ethical 
absurdity  could  not  lie  deeper ;  but  I  was  mistaken. 
The  admirer  of  Mr.  Atkinson  declared  with  great  mod- 
esty that  he  thought,  as  did  his  favorite  author,  that  the 
whole  world  had  been  mad  on  the  subject  of  theology 
and  morality ;  —  that  the  prime  error  consisted  in  the 


A  sceptic's  select  party.  187 

superficial  notion  of  a  Personal  Deity,  and  the  foolish 
attribution  of  the  notion  of  "  sin "  and  "  crime  "  to 
human  motives  and  conduct,  instead  of  regarding  the 
former  as  a  name  of  an  absolutely  unknown  cause  of 
the  entire  phenomena  of  the  universe,  and  the  latter  as 
part  of  a  series  of  rigidly  necessary  antecedents  and 
consequents,  for  which  man  is  no  more  to  be  either 
blamed  or  praised  than  the  sun  for  shining  or  the  ava- 
lanche for  falling;  he  added,  that  only  in  this  way  could 
man  attain  peace.     "  As  Mr.  Atkinson  beautifully  says, 

*  What  a  hopeful  and  calming  influence  has  such  a  con- 
templation of  nature!  At  this  moment  it  is  not  I,  but 
the  nature  within  me,  that  dictates  my  speech  and 
guides  my  pen.  I  am  what  I  am.  I  cannot  alter  my 
will,  or  be  other  than  what  I  am,  and  cannot  deserve 
either  reward  or   punishment.'     But  I  feel  with  him, 

*  We  may  preach  these  things,  and  men  may  think  us 
mad  or  something  worse.'  "  * 

"  And  perhaps  justly,"  said  Harrington,  with  a  laugh, 
"  for  nature  has  surely,  after  so  many  thousands  of 
years,  let  you  know  what  her  laiu  is,  and  you  say  that 
that  law  is  necessary  and  irreversible,  and  yet  you 
strive  to  alter  it!  You  had  better  leave  men  to  their 
necessary  absurdities." 

"  Nay,"  said  the  other,  "  as  Mr.  Atkinson  says,  from 
the  recognition  of  a  universal  law  we  shall  develop  a 
universal  love ;  the  disposition  and  ability  to  love  with^ 
out  offence  or  ill-feeling  towards  any;  or,  as  Miss 
Martineau  represents  it,  —  WhrnLj^i^  miiid  has  com- 
pletely surmounted  every  idea  of  a  personal  God,  of 
a  supreme  will,  *what  repose  begins  to  pervade  the 
mind !  What  clearness  of  moral  purpose  naturally  en^ 
sues !  and  what  healthful  activity  of  the  moral  facull 

*  Pp.  190,  191. 


188  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

ties  /  * What  a  new  perception  we  obtain  of  the 

"beauty  of  holiness,"  —  the  loveliness  of  a  healthful 
moral  condition,  —  accordant  with  the  laws  of  nature, 
and  not  with  the  requisitions  of  theology ! '"  f 

I  got  him  afterwards  to  show  me  these  passages,  for 
I  could  hardly  believe  that  he  had  quoted  them  right. 

"  And  as  for  morality,"  continued  he,  *'  the  knowl- 
edge which  mesmerism  gives  of  the  influence  of  body  on 
body,  and  consequently  of  mind  on  mind,  will  bring 
about  a  morality  we  have  not  yet  dreamed  of.  And 
who  shall  disguise  his  nature  and  his  acts  when  we 
cannot  be  sure  at  any  moment  that  we  are  free  from 
the  clairvoyant  eye  of  some  one  who  is  observing  oui 
actions  and  most  secret  thoughts ;  and  our  whole  char- 
acter and  history  may  be  read  off  at  any  moment!"  % 

What  an  admirable  substitute,  thought  I,  for  the 
idea  of  an  omnipresent  and  omniscient  Deity  !  Who 
will  not  abstain  from  lying  and  stealing  when  he  thinks 
there  is  possibly  some  clairvoyant  at  the  antipodes  in 
mesmeric  rapport  with  his  own  spirit,  and  perhaps,  by 
the  way,  in  very  sympathizing  rapport^  if  the  clairvoy- 
ant happen  to  be  in  Australia  ? 

It  was  at  this  point  that  our  young  friend  from 
Germany  broke  in.  "I  hold  that  you  are  right.  Sir," 
he  said  to  the  last  speaker,  "  in  saying  that  God  is  not 
a  person;  but  then  it  is  because,  as  Hegel  says,  he 
is  personality  itself^  —  the  universal  personality  which 
realizes  itself  in  each  human  consciousness,  as  a  sepa- 
rate thought  of  the  one  eternal  mind.  Our  idea  of  the 
absolute  is  the  absolute  itself;  apart  from  and  out  of 
the  universe,  therefore,  there  is  no  God." 

"  I  think  we  may  grant  you  that,"  said  Harrington, 
laughing. 

•  P  219  t  P.  219.  t  H.  G.  A.  to  H.  M.,  p.  280. 


189 

"  Nor,"  continued  the  other,  "  is  there  any  God  apart 
from  the  universal  consciousness  of  man.     He " 

"  Ought  you  not  to  say  it  7  "  said  Harrington. 

"  7/J,  then,"  said  our  student,  "  is  the  entire  process 
of  thought  combining  in  itself  the  objective  movement 
in  nature  with  the  logical  subjective,  and  realizing  itself 
in  the  spiritual  totality  of  humanity.  He  (or  it,  if  you 
will)  is  the  eternal  movement  of  the  universal,  ever 
raising  itself  to  a  subject,  which  first  of  all  in  the  sub- 
ject comes  to  objectivity  and  a  real  consistence,  and 
accordingly  absorbs  the  subject  in  its  abstract  individ- 
uality. God  is,  therefore,  not  a  person,  but  personality 
itself." 

Nobody  answered,  for  nobody  understood. 

"Q.  E.  D.,"  said  Harrington,  with  the  utmost  gravity* 

Thus  encouraged,  our  student  was  going  on  to  show 
how  much  more  clear  Hegel's  views  are  than  those  of 
Schelling.  "  The  only  real  existence,"  he  said,  "  is  the 
relation  ;  subject  and  object,  which  seem  contradictory, 
are  really  one,  —  not  one  in  the  sense  of  Schelling,  as 
opposite  poles  of  the  same  absolute  existence,  but  one 
as  the  relation  itself  forms  the  very  iaea.  Not  but 
what  in  the  threefold  rhythm  of  universal  existence 
there  are  affinities  with  the  three  potencies  of  Schel- 
Hng ;  but " 

"  Take  a  glass  of  wine,"  said  Harrington  to  his 
young  acquaintance,  "  take  a  glass  of  w4ne,  as  the 
Antiquary  said  to  Sir  Arthur  Wardour,  when  he  was 
trying  to  cough  up  the  barbarous  names  of  his  Pictish 
ancestors,  *  and  wash  down  that  bead-roll  of  unbaptized 
jargon  which  would  choke  a  dog.'  " 

We  laughed,  for  we  could  not  help  it. 

Our  young  student  looked  offended,  and  muttered 
something  about  the  inaptitude  of  the  English  for  a 
deep  theosophy  and  philosophy. 


190  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  It  is  all  very  well,"  said  he,  "  Mr.  Harrington  ;  but 
it  is  not  in  this  way  that  the  profound  questions  which, 
under  some  aspects,  have  divided  such  minds  as  Fichte, 
Schelling,  and  Hegel ;  and  under  others,  Goschel,  Hin- 

richs,  Erdmann,  Marheineke,  Schaller,  Gabler " 

Harrington  burst  out  laughing.  "  They  divide  a 
good  many  philosophers  of  that  last  name  in  England 
also,"  said  he. 

"  Why,  what  have  I  said  ?  "  replied  the  other,  looking 
surprised  and  vexed. 

"  Nothing   at   all,"    said   Harrington,   still  laughing. 
"  Nothing  that  I  know  of;  I  am  sure  I  may  with  truth 
affirm  it.     But  I  beg  your  pardon  for  laughing ;  only  I 
could  not  help  it,  at  finding  you  like  so  many  other 
young  philosophers  born  of  German  theology  and  phi- 
losophy, attempting  to  frighten  me  by  a  mere  roll-call 
of  formidable  names.     Why,  my  friend,  it  is  because 
1  these  things  have,  as  you  say,  divided  these  great  minds 
/  so  hopelessly,  that  I  am  in  difficulty  ;  if  the  philosophers 
j  had  agreed  about  them,  it  would  have  been  another 
story.      One   would   think,  to   hear  them  invoked  by 
many  a  youth  here,  that  these  powerful  minds  had  con- 
vinced one  another;  instead  of  that,  they  have  simply 
confounded  one  another.     It  was  the  very  spectacle  of 
their  interminable  disputes  and  distractions  in  philoso- 
phy and  theology,  —  ever   darker   and   darker,  deeper 
and  deeper,  as  system  after  system  chased  each  other 
/  away,  like  the  clouds  they  resemble  through  a  winter 
sky ;  —  I  say  it  was  the  very  spectacle  of  their  distrac- 
tions which  first  made  me  a  sceptic ;  and  I  think  I  am 
'  hardly  likely  to  be  reconvinced  by  the  mere  sound  of 
their  names,  ushered  in  by  vague  professions  of  pro- 
found admiration  of  their  profundity!     The  praise  is 
often   oddly  justified   by    citing    something  or   other, 
which,  obscure  enough  in  the  original,  is  absolute  dark- 


191 

ness  when  translated  into  English;  and  must,  like 
some  versions  I  have  seen  of  the  classics,  be  examined 
in  the  original,  in  order  to  gain  a  glimpse  of  its  mean- 
ing." 

The  student  acknowledged  that  there  was  certainly 
much  vague  admiration  and  pretension  amongst  young 
Englishmen  in  this  matter;  but  thought  that  pro- 
founder  views  were  to  be  gathered  from  these  sources 
than  was  generally  acknowledged. 

"  Very  well,"  replied  Harrington ;  "  I  do  not  deny 
it,  perhaps  it  is  so  ;  and  whenever  you  choose  to  justify 
that  opinion  by  expressing  in  intelligible  English  the 
special  views  of  the  special  author  you  think  thus 
worthy  of  attention,  whether  he  be  from  Germany  or 
Timbuctoo,  I  humbly  venture  to  say  that  I  will  (so  far 
from  laughing)  examine  them  with  as  much  patience  as 
yourself.  But  if  you  wish  to  cure  me  of  laughing,  I 
beseech  you  to  refrain  from  all  vague  appeals  to  whole- 
sale authority. 

"  The  most  ludicrous  circumstance,  however,"  he 
continued,  "  connected  with  this  German  mania  is,  that 
in  many  cases  our  admiring  countrymen  are  too  late 
in  changing  their  metaphysical  fashions ;  so  that  they 
sometimes  take  up  with  rapture  a  man  whom  the  Ger- 
mans are  just  beginning  to  cast  aside.  Our  servile 
imitators  live  on  the  crumbs  that  fall  from  the  German 
table,  or  run  off  with  the  well-picked  bone  to  their  ken- 
nel, as  if  it  were  a  treasure,  and  growl  and  show  their 
teeth  to  any  one  that  approaches  them,  in  very  super- 
fluous terror  of  being  deprived  of  it.  It  would  be 
well  if  they  were  to  imitate  the  importers  of  Parisian 
fashions,  and  let  us  know  what  is  the  philosophy  or 
theology  a  la  mode^  that  we  may  not  run  a  chance  of 
appearing  perfect  frights  in  the  estimate  even  of  the 
Germans  themselves." 


192  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

Coffee  was  here  brought  in ;  and  Harrington  said, 
"  Thank  you,  gentlemen,  for  your  candor,  though  your 
unanimity  does  not  seem  very  admirable.  In  one  sen- 
timent, indeed,  you  are  pretty  well  agreed,  —  that  the 
Bible  is  to  be  discarded ;  though  you  are  infinitely  at 
variance,  as  to  the  grounds  on  which  you  think  so  ;  our 
Catholic  friends  deeming  it  too  precious  to  be  intrusted 
to  every  body's  hands,  and  the  rest  of  you,  as  a  gift  not 
worth  receiving.  But  as  to  the  systems  you  would 
substitute  in  its  place,  they  are  so  portentously  various 
•  that  they  are  hardly  likely  to  cure  vie  of  my  scepticism  ; 
nor  even  my  worthy  relative  here  "  —  pointing  to  me  — 
"  of  his  old-fashioned  orthodoxy.  He  will  say,  '  Much 
as  we  theologians  differ  as  to  the  interpretation  of 
Scripture,  our  differences  are  neither  so  great  nor  so 
formidable  as  those  of  these  gentlemen.  I  had  better 
remain  where  I  am.'  " 

Several  of  the  guests  stared  at  me  as  they  would  at 
the  remains  of  a  megatherium. 

"  Is  it  possible,"  said  one  at  last,  "  that  you.  Sir,  can 
retain  a  belief  in  the  divine  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  — 
excluding  incidental  errors  of  transcription  and  so  on  ?  " 

"  It  is  not  only  possible,"  said  I,  "  but  certain." 

"  Do  you  mean,"  said  the  other,  "  that  you  can  give 
satisfactory  answers  to  the  objections  which  can  be 
brought  against  various  parts  of  it  ?  " 

"  By  no  means,"  said  I ;  "  while  I  think  that  many 
may  be  wholly  solved,  and  more,  partially,  I  admit  there 
are  some  which  are  altogether  insoluble." 

"  Then  why,  in  the  name  of  wonder,  do  you  retain 

your  belief?  " 

^        "  Because  I  think  that  the  evidence  for  retaining  it 

/  I      is,  on  the  whole,  stronger  than  the  evidence  for  relin- 

/  /      quishing  it ;  that  is,  that  the  objections  to  admitting 

/  /      the  objections  are  stronger  than  the  objections  them- 

^-~-  -«elves." 


A  sceptic's  select  party.  198 

"  But  how  do  you  manage  in  a  controversy  with  an 
opponent  as  to  those  insoluble  objections  ?  " 

«  I  admit  them." 

"  Then  you  allow  his  position  to  be  more  tenable  and 
reasonable  than  yours  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  I ;  "  I  take  care  of  thaV 

«  How  so  ?  " 

"  I  transfer  the  war,  my  good  Sir ;  a  practice  which 
I  would  recommend  to  most  Christians  in  these  days. 
When  I  meet  with  an  opponent  of  the  stamp  you  refer 
to,  who  thinks  insoluble  objections  alone  are  suffi- 
cient reasons  for  rejecting  any  thing,  I  say  to  him,  '  My 
friend,  this  Christianity,  if  so  clearly  false,  is  not 
worth  talking  about:  let  us  quit  it.  But  as  you  admit, 
with  me,  that  religious  truth  is  of  great  moment,  and  as 
you  think  you  have  it,  pray  oblige  me  by  your  system.* 
To  tell  you  the  truth,  I  never  found  any  difficulty  in 
propounding  plenty  of  insoluble  objections ;  but  if  you 
think  differently,  you  or  any  gentleman  present  can 
make  experiment  of  the  matter  now." 

"  Nay,  my  dear  uncle,"  said  Harrington,  "  you  are 
invading  my  province.  It  is  I  only  who  can  consist- 
ently challenge  all  comers ;  like  the  ancient  Scythians, 
I  have  every  thing  to  gain  and  nothing  to  lose." 

Whether  it  was  out  of  respect  for  the  host,  or  that 
each  felt,  after  the  recent  disclosures,  that  he  would  not 
only  have  Harrington  and  myself,  but  every  body  else, 
down  upon  him,  nobody  accepted  this  challenge. 

At  last  one  of  them  said  he  could  not  even  yet 
comprehend  how  it  was  that  I  could  remain  an  old- 
fashioned  believer  in  these  days  of  "  progress."  "  It 
was  infidelity  itself,"  I  replied,  "  that  early  robbed  me 
of  the  advantages  of  being  an  infidel." 

Several  expressed  their  surprise,  and  I  told  them  that, 
after  we  had  taken  tea  in  the  drawing-room  (to  which 
17 


194  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

we  were  then  summoned),  I  would,  if  they  felt  any  cu- 
riosity upon  the  matter,  and  would  allow  a  little  scope 
to  the  garrulity  of  an  old  man,  tell  them 

How    IT    WAS    THAT    InFIDELITY    PREVENTED    MY 
BECOMING    AN    InFIDEL. 

After  tea  I  gave  my  story,  as  nearly  as  I  can  recol- 
lect, in  the  following  way.  Of  course  I  cannot  recall  the 
precise  words;  but  the  order  of  the  thoughts  —  how 
often  have  they  been  pondered !  —  I  cannot  be  mistaken 
about. 


It  is  now  thirty  years  ago  or  more  since  I  was  pass- 
ing through  many  of  the  mental  conflicts  in  which  I  see 
so  many  of  the  young  in  the  present  day  involved.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  the  majority  of  them  will  come  out, 
probably  after  an  eclipse  more  or  less  partial,  very  ortho- 
dox Christians,  —  so  great  are  the  revolutions  of  opinion 
which  an  experience  of  human  life  and  the  necessities 
of  the  human  heart  work  upon  us !  As  I  look  around 
me,  I  see  few  of  my  youthful  contemporaries  who  have 
not  survived  their  infidelity. 

Far  be  it  from  me  —  (I  spoke  in  a  tone  which,  I 
imagine,  they  hardly  knew  whether  to  take  as  compli- 
ment or  irony)  —  to  affirm  that  the  infidels  of  this  day 
are  like  those  I  knew  in  my  youth.  I  have  no  hesita- 
tion in  saying  of  W5,  that  a  perfectly  natural  recoil  — 
partly  intellectual  and  partly  moral  —  from  the  super- 
natural history,  the  peculiar  doctrines,  but,  above  all, 
the  severe  morality  of  the  New  Testament,  was  at  the 
bottom  oT  our  unbelief.  I  have  long  felt  that  the  re- 
ception of  that  book  on  the  part  of  any  human  being 
is  not  the  least  of  its  proofs  that  it  is  divine ,  for  I  am 


DILEMMAS    OF    AN    INFIDEL    NEOPHYTE.  195 

persuaded  there  never  was  a  book  naturally  more  re- 
pulsive either  to  the  human  head  or  heart.  All  the 
prejudices  of  man  are  necessarily  arrayed  against  it. 
/felt  these  prejudices,  I  am  now  distinctly  conscious  ;v 
nor  was  I  insensible  to  the  palpable  advantages  of  infi- 
delity ;  —  its  accommodating  morality ;  its  large  margin 
for  the  passions  and  appetites ;  its  doubts  of  any  future 
world,  or  its  certainty  that,  if  there  were  one,  it  would 
prove  a  universal  paradise  (for  doubts  and  certainties 
are  equally  within  the  compass  of  human  ivishes) ;  the 
absolute  abolition  of  hell  and  every  thing  like  it.  I  say 
I  saw  clearly  enough  the  advantages  which  infidelity 
promised,  and  I  acknowledge  I  was  not  insensible  to 
them.     I  think  no  young  men  are  likely  to  be. 

I  do  not  insinuate  that  similar  advantages  have  any 
thing  to  do  with  those  many  peculiar  revelations  of 
religion  which  different  oracles  have  in  our  day  substi- 
tuted for  the  New  Testament.  The  arguments  against 
Christianity,  indeed,  I  do  not  find  much  altered;  the 
substitutions  for  it,  though  distractingly  various,  are,  I 
confess,  in  some  respects  different.  Nay,  we  see  that 
many  of  our  "  spirituaJista^'^_^orn£^in  chiefly  of  the 
moral  and  spiritual  deficiencies  of  jChristianity ;  they  are 
afraid,  with  Mr.  Newman j  of  the  conscience  of  man 
being  depressed^Jo  Jhe J^ible  standard!  So  that  we 
must  suppose  that  the  aims  of  some,  at  least,  of  our 
infidel  reformers,  are  prompted  by  a  loftier  ideal  of 
"spiritual"  purity  than  Christianity  presents! 

It  certainly  was  not  so  then;  I  felicitate  some  of  you 
gentlemen,  on  being  so  much  holier  and  wiser,  not  only 
than  we  were,  but  even  than  Christ  and  his  Apostles. 

I  have  said  I  was  not  insensible  to  the  advantages 
of  infidelity ;  but  nature  had  endowed  me  with  prus 
dence  as  well  as  passions ;  and  I  wanted  evidence  for 
what  appeared  to  me  its  most  gjatuitous  philosophy  of 


196 


THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 


i 


the  future,  —  for  its  too  uncertain  doubts  of  all  futurity, 
anH'TE?  too  doubtful  certainty  of  none  but  a  happy  one ' 
I  also  wanted  evidence  of  the  falsehood  of  Christianity 
itself.  As  to  the  former,  I  shall  not  trouble  you  with 
my  difficulties ;  there  were  indeed  then,  as  now,  an  ad- 
mirable variety  of  theories;  but  if  I  could  have  been 
convinced  of  the  futility  of  the  claims  of  Christianity,  1 
believe  I  should  have  been  easily  satisfied  as  to  a  sub- 
stitute ;  or  rather,  unable  to  decide  between  Chubb  and 
Bolingbroke,  Voltaire  and  Rousseau,  I  should  most 
likely  have  tossed  up  for  my  religion. 

It  was  the  distractions  with  regard  to  the  evidences 
of  Christianity  that  ruined  me ;  and  at  last  condemned 
me  to  be  a  Christian. 

I  was  first  troubled,  like  so  many  in  our  day,  about 
^QToiraeles.  I  could  hardly  bring  my  mind  to  believe 
them.  One  day,  talking  with  a  jovial  fellow  whom  I 
casually  met  (not  of  very  strong  mind  indeed,  but  who 
made  up  for  it  by  very  strong  passions)  over  the  improb- 
ability of  such  occurrences,  he  exclaimed,  as  he  mixed 
his  third  glass  of  brandy  and  water,  "  I  only  wonder  how 
any  one  can  be  such  a  fool  as  to  believe  in  any  stuff  of 
that  sort  ?  Do  you  think  that,  if  the  miracles  had  been 
really  wrought,  there  could  have  been  any  doubters  of 
Christianity  ?  "  He  tossed  off  the  brandy  and  water 
with  a  triumphant  air ;  and  I  quite  forgot  his  argument 
in  compassion  for  his  bestiality.  I  expostulated  with 
him.  "  You  may  spare  your  breath,  Mr.  Solomon,"  said 
he.  "  May  this  be  my  poison  (as  it  will  be  my  poison)," 
mixing  a  fourth  glass,  "if  I  need  any  sermons  on  the 
subject.  Hark  ye,  —  I  am  perfectly  convinced  that  the 
habit  I  am  chained  to  will  be  the  destruction  of  health, 
of  reputation,  of  my  slender  means,  —  will  reduce  to 
beggary  and  starvation  my  wife  and  children,  —  and 
yet,"  drinking  again,  "  I  know  Ishall  never  leave  it  off." 


DILEMMAS    OF    AN    INFIDEL    NEOPHYTE.  197 

"  Good  heavens  I  "  said  I.  "  Why,  you  seem  as  plain- 
ly convinced  of  the  infatuation  of  your  conduct  as  if 
a  miracle  had  been  wroughi>  to  convince  you  of  it. 

"I  am,"  he  said,  unthinkingly;  "ten  thousand  mira- 
cles could  not  make  it  plainer;  so  you  may  'spare  your 
breath  to  cool  your  porridge,'  and  preach  to  one  who 
is  not  already  in  the  condemned  cell." 

I  was  exceedingly  shocked;  but  I  thought  within 
myself,  —  It  appears,  then,  that  man  may  act  against 
convictions,  as  strong  as  any  that  a  miracle  could  pro- 
duce. It  is  clear  there  are  no  limits  to  the  perversity 
with  which  a  depraved  will  and  passions  can  overrule 
evidence,  even  where  it  is  admitted  by  the  reason  to 
be  invincible.  It  does  not  follow,  then,  that  a  miracle 
(which  cannot  present  conclusions  more  clear)  must 
triumph  over  them.  If  the  passions  can  defy  the  un- 
derstanding, where  it  coolly  acknowledges  they  cannot 
pervert  the  evidence,  how  much  more  easily  may  they 
cajole  it  to  suggest  doubts  of  the  evidence  itself!  And 
what  more  easy  than  in  relation  to  miracles  ?  Such  a 
phenomenon  might  from  novelty  produce  a  transient 
impression;  but  that  would  pass  away,  just  as  the  vivid 
feelings  sometimes  excited  by  a  sudden  escape  from 
death  pass  away ;  the  half-roused  debauchee  resumes 
his  old  career,  just  as  if  he  had  never  looked  over  the 
brink  of  eternity  and  shuddered  with  horror  as  he  gazed. 
He  who  had  seen  a  miracle  might  very  soon,  and  prob- 
ably would,  if  he  did  not  like  the  doctrine  it  was  to 
confirm,  persuade  himself  that  it  was  an  illusion  of  his 
senses,  for  they  have  deceived  him ;  unless,  indeed,  he 
saw  a  new  miracle  every  day,  and  then  he  would  be 
certain  to  get  used  to  it.  How  much  more  easily  could 
the  Jews  do  this,  who  both  hated  the  doctrine  of  Him 
who  taught,  and,  not  thinking  miracles  impossible, 
could  conveniently  refer  them  to  Beelzebub ! 


198 


THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 


1  felt,  therefore,  that  the  brandy  and  water  logic  had 
perfectly  convinced  me  that  this  was  far  too  precarious 
ground  on  which  to  conclude  that  the  miracles  of  the 
New  Testament  had  been  wrought. 

I  was  further  confirmed  in  my  convictions  of  the 
Illogical  nature  of  all  a  priori  views  on  the  subject,  by 
the  whimsical  differences  of  opinion  among  my  infidel 
friends. 

One  told  me  that  it  was  plain  that  miracles  were 
"  incredible,"  and  "  impossible,"  per  se ;  but  he  was 
immediately  contradicted  by  a  second,  w^ho  said  that  he 
really  could  not  see  any  thing  incredible  or  impossible 
about  them  ;  that  all  that  was  wanting  to  make  them 
credible  was  svfficient  evidence,  which  perhaps  had  in 
no  case  been  given. 

A  third  said,  that  it  was  of  little  consequence ;  that 
no  miracle  could  prove  a  moral  truth  ;  and,  taking  a 
view  just  the  opposite  to  that  of  my  first  acquaintance, 
swore  that,  if  he  saw  a  score  of  miracles,  he  should  not 
be  a  bit  the  more  inclined  to  believe  in  the  authority  of 
a  religion  authenticated  by  them. 

Here  was  a  fine  beginning  for  an  ingenuous  neo- 
phyte, who  was  eager  to  be  fully  initiated  in  infidel 
theology ! 

It  set  me  to  examine  the  miracles  themselves,  and 
the  evidence  for  them. 

"  They  were  the  simple  result  of  fraud  practising 
upon  simplicity,"  said  one  of  the  genuine  descendants 
of  Bolingbroke  and  Tindal. 

I  pondered  over  it  a  good  deal.  At  last  I  said  one 
day  to  another  infidel  acquaintance,  "  You  ask  me  to 
believe  that  the  miraculous  events  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment were  contrivances  of  fraud ;  which,  though  ven- 
tured upon  in  the  very  eyes  of  those  who  were  in- 
terested in  detecting  them,  who  must  have  been  preju- 


DILEMMAS    OF    AN    INFIDEL    NEOPHYTE.  199 

diced  against  them,  nay,  the  majority  of  whom  (as  the 
events  show)  were  determined,  whether  they  detected 
them  or  not,  not  to  believe  those  who  wrought  them, 
were  yet  successfully  practised,  not  only  on  the  deluded 
disciples  of  the  impostors,  but  on  their  unbelieving 
persecutors,  who  admitted  them  to  be  miracles,  only 
of  Beelzebub's  performing.  I  really  know  not  how  to 
believe  it.  As  I  look  at  the  general  history  of  religion, 
I  see  that  this  open-day  appeal  to  miracles  —  especially 
such  as  raising  the  dead  —  among  prejudiced  spectators 
interested  in  unmasking  them  is,  if  unsupported  by 
truth,  just  the  thing  under  which  a  religious  enterprise 
inevitably  fails." 

I  reminded  him  that  the  French  prophets  in  England 
got  on  pretty  well  till  their  unlucky  attempt  to  raise 
the  dead,  when  the  bubble  burst  instantly ;  that  for  this 
reason  the  more  astute  impostors  have  refrained  from 
any  pretensions  of  the  kind,  from  Mahomet  down- 
wards;* that  the  miracles  they  professed  to  have 
wrought  were  conveniently  wrought  in  secret,  on  the 
safe  theatre  of  their  mental  consciousness ;  or  that  they 
were  reserved  for  times  when  their  disciples  were  pre- 
determined to  believe  them,  because  they  were  cordial 
believers  already  in  the  religion  which  appealed  to 
them  I  I  said  nothing  of  the  unlikelihood  of  the  instni- 
ments  —  Galilean  Jews  —  whom  the  theory  invests  with 
such  superhuman  powers  of  deception  ;  or  of  the  pro- 
digious intellect  and  lofty  ambition  with  which  it  also 
so  liberally  endows  these  obscure  vagabonds,  who  not 
only  conceived,  in  spite  of  their  narrow-hearted  Jewish 
bigotry,  such  a  system  as  Christianity,  but  proclaimed 
their  audacious  resolve  of  establishing  it  on  the  ruins 
of  every  other  religion,  —  Jewish  or  Heathen.     I  said 


*  How  discreetly  cautious,  again,  have  the  Mormonites  been  on  this 
point ! 


200  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 


fm 


nothing  of  the  still  stranger  moral  attributes  with  which 
it  invests  them,  (in  spite  of  their  being  such  odious 
tricksters,  in  spite  of  all  their  grovelling  notions  and 
exclusive  prejudices,)  as  the  teachers  of  a  singularly 
elevated  and  catholic  morality  ;  what  is  still  stranger, 
as  suffering  for  it,  —  strangest  of  all,  as  apparently  prac- 
tising it.  I  said  nothing  of  what  is  still  more  wonderful, 
their  acting  this  inconsistent  part  from  motives  we  can- 
not assign  or  even  imagine ;  their  encountering  obloquy, 
persecution,  death,  in  the  prosecution  of  their  object, 
whatever  it  was.  I  said  nothing  of  the  innumerable, 
and  one  would  think  inimitable,  traits  of  nature  and 
sincerity  in  the  narrative  of  those  who  record  these 
miracles,  and  which,  if  simulated  by  such  liars,  would 
be  almost  a  miracle  itself;  a  narrative,  in  which  majes- 
tic indifference  to  human  criticism  is  everywhere  exhib- 
ited ;  in  which  are  no  apologies  for  the  extraordinary 
stories  told,  no  attempt  to  conciliate  prejudice,  no  em- 
bellishment, no  invectives  (as  Pascal  says)  against  the 
persecutors  of  Christ  himself ;  —  they  are  simple  wit- 
nesses, and  nothing  more,  and  are  seemingly  indifferent 
whether  men  despise  them  or  not.  I  repeat,  I  said 
nothing  of  all  these  paradoxes ;  I  insisted  that  the  mere 
fact  of  the  successful  machination  of  false  miracles,  of 
such  a  nature,  at  so  many  points,  in  open  day,  in  defi- 
ance of  every  motive  and  prejudice  which  must  have 
prompted  the  world  to  unmask  the  cheat,  —  of  a  con- 
spiracy successfully  prosecuted,  not  by  one^  but  by  many 
conspirators,  whose  fortitude,  obstinacy,  and  circum- 
spection, both  when  acting  together  and  acting  alone, 
never  allowed  them  to  betray  themselves,  —  was,  per  se^ 
incredible ;  "  and  yet,"  said  I  to  my  friend,  "  you  ask 
me  to  believe  it  ?  " 

"J  ask  you   to   believe   it?"   cried  he,  in  surprise 
which  equalled  my  own.     "  I  am  not  fool  enough  to 


DILEMMAS    OF    AN    INFIDEL    NEOPHYTE.  201 

ask  you  to  believe  any  thing  of  the  kind ;  and  they  are 
fools  who  do.  The  mu'acles  fraudulent  machinations! 
no,  no ;  it  was,  as  you  say,  evidently  impossible.  And 
w^here  shall  we  look  for  marks  of  simplicity  and  truth- 
fulness, if  not  in  the  records  w^hich  contain  them.  The 
fact  is,"  said  he  (I  should  mention  that  it  was  just 
about  the  time  that  the  system  of  "  naturalism  "  was 
culminating  under  the  auspices  of  Paulus  of  Heidel- 
berg, from  whom,  at  second  hand,  my  infidel  friend 
borrowed  as  much  as  he  wanted),  —  "  the  fact  is,  that 
the  compilers  of  the  New  Testament  were  pious,  sim- 
ple-minded, excellent  enthusiasts,  who  sincerely,  but 
not  the  less  falsely,  mistook  natural  phenomena  for 
supernatural  miracles.  "What  more  easy  than  to  sup*^ 
pose  people  dead  when  they  were  not,  and  who  were  ^ 
merely  recovered  from  a  swoon  or  trance  ?  than  to 
imagine  the  blind,  deaf,  or  dumb  to  be  miraculously  \ 
healed,  when  in  fact  they  were  cured  by  medical  skill  ? 
than  to  fancy  the  blaze  of  a  flambeau  to  be  a  star,  and 
to  shape  thunder  into  articulate  speech,  and  so  on  ? 
Christ  was  no  miracle-worker,  but  he  was  a  capital 
doctor." 

I  pondered  over  this  "  natural  "  explanation  for  a  long 
time.  At  last  I  ventured  to  express  to  a  third  infidel 
friend  my  dissatisfaction  with  it.  "  Not  only,"  said  I, 
"is  such  a  perpetual  and  felicitous  genius  for  gross 
blundering,  such  absolute  craziness  of  credulity,  in 
strange  contrast  with  the  intellectual  and  moral  eleva- 
tion which  the  New  Testament  writers  everywhere 
evince,  and  especially  in  the  conception  of  that  Ideal 
of  Excellence  which  even  those  who_reject  all  that  i-A 
supernatural  in  Christianity  acknowledge  to  be  so 
sublime  a  masterpiece,  —  in  whose  discourses  the 
most  admirable  ethics  are  illustrated,  and  in  whose 
life  they  are  still  more  divinely  dramatized,  —  not  only 


202  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

is  such  ludicrous  madness  of  fanaticism  at  variance 
with  the  tone  of  sobriety  and  simplicity  everywhere 
traceable;  but, — what  is  more, — when  I  reflect  on 
the  number  and  grossness  of  these  supposed  illusions,  I 
find  it  hard  to  imagine  how  even  one  individual  could 
have  been  honestly  stupid  enough  to  be  beguiled  by 
them,  and  utterly  impossible  to  suppose  that  a  number 
of  men  should  on  many  occasions  have  been  simuU 
taneously  thus  befooled!  But,  what  is  much  more, 
how  can  those  who  must  often  have  managed  the 
phenomena  which  were  thus  misinterpreted  into  mira- 
cles,—  how,  especially,  can  the  great  Physician  him- 
self, who  knew  that  he  was  only  playing  the  doctor,  be 
supposed  honestly  to  have  allowed  the  simple-minded 
followers  to  persist  in  so  strange  an  error  ?  Either  he, 
or  they,  or  both,  must^  one  would  think,  have  been 
guilty  of  the  grossest  frauds.  But  the  mere  number 
and  simultaneity  of  such  strange  illusions,  under  such 
a  variety  of  circumstances,  render  it  impossible  to 
receive  this  hypothesis.  I  cannot  see,  I  said,  that  it  is 
so  very  easy  for  a  nmnber  of  men  to  have  been  con- 
tinually mistaking '  flambeaux '  for  *  stars,'  *  thunder '  for 
*  human  speech,'  and  '  Roman  soldiers '  for  '  angels.'  " 

My  friend  laughed  outright.  "  I  should  think  it  is 
not  easy,  indeed  I "  he  exclaimed,  "  especially  that  last. 
For  my  part,  /see  clearly,  on  this  theory,  that  either  the 
Apostles  or  their  commentators  were  the  most  crazy, 
addle-headed  wretches  in  the  world.  Either  Paulus  of 
Tarsus  or  Paulus  of  Heidelberg  was  certainly  cracked: 
/believe  the  last.  No,  my  friend  ;  depend  upon  it  that 
the  Gospels  consist  of  a  number  of  fictions^  —  many  of 
them  very  beautiful,  —  invented,  I  am  inclined  to  be- 
lieve, for  a  very  pious  purpose,  by  highly  imaginative 
minds." 

This   set  me   thinking   again.     And,  in   time,   my 


DILEMMAS    OF    AN    INFIDEL    NEOPHYTE.  203 

doubts,  as  usual,  assumed  a  determinate  shape,  and  I 
hastened  to  another  oracle  of  infidelity  in  hopes  of  a 
solution. 

If  the  New  Testament  be  supposed  a  series  of  fio\ 
tions,  I  argued,  —  the  work  of  highly  imaginative  minds  ' 
for  a  pious  purpose,  —  there  is  perhaps  a  slight  moral 
anomaly  in  the  case  (but  I  do  not  insist  upon  it) :  I 
mean  that  of  supposing  pious  men  writing  fictions  which 
they  evideiitly  wish  to  impose_on  jthe  world  as  simple 
history,  and  which  they  must  have  known  would,  if  re- 
ceived at  all,  be  actually  regarded  as  such  ;  as,  in  fact, 
they  have  been.  I  do  not  quite  understand  how  pious 
men  should  thus  endeavor  to  cheat  men  into  virtue, 
nor  inculcate  sanctity  and  truth  through  the  medium  of 
deliberate  fraud  and  falsehood.  But  let  that  pass ;  per- 
haps one  could  forgive  it.  Other  anomalies,  far  more 
inexplicable,  strike  me.  That  Galilean  Jews  (such  as 
the  history  of  the  time  represents  them),  with  all  their 
national  and  inveterate  prejudices,  —  wedded  not  more 
to  the  law  of  Moses  than  to  their  own  corruptions  of 
it,  bigoted  and  exclusive  beyond  all  the  nations  that 
ever  existed,  eaten  up  with  the  most  beggarly  super- 
stitions, —  should  rise  to  the  moral  grandeur,  the  no- 
bility of  sentiment,  the  catholicity  of  spirit,  which  char- 
acterize the  Gospel,  and,  above  all,  to  such  an  ideal  as 
Jesus  Christ,  —  this  is  a  moral  anomaly,  which  is  to 
me  incomprehensible ;  the  improbability  of  Christianity 
having  its  natural  origin  in  such  a  source  is  properly 
measured  by  the  hatred  of  the  Jews  against  it,  both 
then  and  through  all  time.  I  said  I  could  as  little 
understand  the  intellectual  anomalies  of  such  a  theory. 
Could  men,  among  the  most  ignorant  of  a  nation  sunk 
in  that  gross  and  puerile  superstition  of  which  the  New 
Testament  itself  presents  a  true  picture,  and  which  is 
reflected  in  the  Jewish  literature  of  that  age,  and  ever 


204  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

since,  —  a  nation  whose  master  minds  then  and  ever 
since  (think  of  that!)  have  given  us  only  such  stuff  as 
fills  the  Talmud,  —  could  such  men,  I  said,  have  created 
such  fictions  as  those  of  the  New  Testament,  —  reached 
such  elevated  sentiments,  or  conveyed  them  in  such 
perfectly  original  forms,  —  embodied  truth  so  sublime 
in  a  style  so  simple  ?  Throughout  those  writings  there 
is  a  peculiar  tone  which  belongs  to  no  other  composi- 
tions of  man.  While  the  individuality  of  the  writers  is 
not  lost,  there  are  still  peculiarities  which  pervade  the 
whole,  and  have,  as  I  think,  justly  been  called  a  Scrip- 
ture style.  One  of  their  most  striking  characteristics, 
by  the  way,  is  a  severely  simple  taste  ;  a  uniform  free- 
dom from  the  vulgarities  of  conception,  the  exagger- 
ated sentiment,  the  mawkish  nonsense  and  twaddle, 
which  disfigure  such  an  infinitude  of  volumes  of  re- 
ligious biography  and  fiction  which  have  been  written 
since.  Could  such  men  attain  this  uniform  elevation  ? 
Could  such  men  have  invented  those  extraordinary  fic- 
tions, —  the  miracles  and  the  parables  ?  Could  they,  in 
spite  of  their  gross  ignorance,  have  so  interwoven  the 
fictitious  and  the  historical  as  to  make  the  fiction  let  into 
the  history  seem  a  natural  part  of  it?  Could  they, 
above  all,  have  conceived  the  daring,  but  glorious,  proj- 
ect of  embodying  and  dramatizing  the  ideal  of  the  sys- 
tem they  inculcated  in  the  person  of  Christ?  And  yet 
they  have  succeeded,  though  choosing  to  attempt  the 
wonderful  task  in  a  life  full  of  unearthly  incidents,  which 
they  have  somehow  wrought  into  an  exquisite  harmony ! 
But  even  if  one  such  man  in  such  an  age  and  nation 
could  have  been  found  equal  to  all  this,  could  we,  I  ar- 
gued, believe  that  several  (with  undeniable  individual 
varieties  of  manner)  were  capable  of  working  into  the 
picture  similarly  unique,  but  different  materials,  with 
similar  success,  and  of  reproducing  the  same  portrait,  in 


DILEMMAS    OF    AN    INFIDEL    NEOPHTIE.  205 

varying  posture  and  attitude,  of  the  great  Moral  Idea? 
Could  we  believe  that,  in  achieving  this  task,  not  one, 
but  several,  were  intellectual  magicians  enough  to  solve 
that  great  problem  of  producing  compositions  in  a  form 
independent  of  language,  —  of  laying  on  colors  which 
do  not  fade  by  time ;  so  that  while  Homer,  Shakspeare, 
Milton,  suffer  grievous  wrong  the  moment  their  thoughts 
are  transferred  into  another  tongae,  these  men  should 
have  written  so  that  their  wonderful  narrative  naturally 
adapts  itself  to  every  dialect  under  heaven  ? 

These  intellectual  anomalies,  I  confessed,  —  if  these 
had  been  all,  —  staggered  me.  As  Lord  Bacon  said  that 
he  would  sooner  believe  "  all  the  fables  of  the  Talmud, 
than  that  this  universal  frame  was  without  a  mind,"  so 
I  could  sooner  believe  all  those  fables,  than  that  minds 
that  can  only  produce  Talmuds  should  have  conceived 
such  fictions  as  the  Gospel.  I  could  as  soon  believe 
that  some  dull  chronicler  of  the  Middle  Ages  composed 
Shakspeare's  plays,  or  a  ploughman  had  written  Para- 
dise Lost;  only  that,  to  parallel  the  present  case,  we 
ought  to  believe  that /owr  ploughmen  wrote  four  Para- 
dise Losts  I  Nay,  I  said,  I  would  as  soon  believe  that 
most  laughable  theory  of  learned  folly,  that  the  monks 
of  the  Middle  Ages  compiled  all  the  classics!  Nor  could 
it  help  me  to  say  that  it  was  Christians^  not  Jews^  who 
compiled  the  New  Testament;  for  they  must  have  been 
Jews  before  they  were  Christians ;  and  the  twofold 
moral  and  intellectual  problem  comes  back  upon  our 
hands,  —  to  imagine  how  the  Jewish  mind  could  have 
given  birth  to  the  ideas  of  Christianity,  or  have  embod- 
ied them  in  such  a  surpassing  form.  And  as  to  the  in- 
tellectual part  of  the  difficulty,  —  unhappi  y  abundant 
proof  exists  in  Christian  literature  that  the  early  Chris- 
tians could  as  little  have  manufactured  such  fictions  as 
the  Jews  themselves '    The  New  Testament  is  not  more 

18 


206  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

different  from  the  writings  of  Jews,  or  superior  to  them, 
than  it  is  different  from  the  writings  of  the  Fathers, 
and  superior  to  them.  It  stands  alone,  like  the  Peak  of 
Teneriffe.  The  Alps  amidst  the  flats  of  Holland  would 
not  present  a  greater  contrast  than  the  New  Testament 
and  the  Fathers.  And  the  farther  we  come  down,  the 
less  capable  morally,  and  nearly  as  incapable  intellect- 
ually, do  the  rapidly  degenerating  Christians  appear, 
of  producing  such  a  fiction  as  the  New  Testament ;  so 
that,  if  it  be  asked  whether  it  was  not  possible  that 
some  Christians  of  after  times  might  \i'3iwe  forged  these 
books,  one  must  say  with  Paley,  that  they  could  not. 

And  by  the  by,  gentlemen,  said  I,  (interrupting  my 
narrative,  and  addressing  the  present  company,)  I  may 
remind  some  of  you  who  are  great  admirers  of  Pro- 
fessor Newman,  that  he  admits  (as  indeed  all  must,  who 
have  had  an  opportunity  of  comparing  them)  the  infi- 
nite inferiority  of  the  Fathers,  though  he  does  not  at- 
tempt to  account,  as  surely  he  onght^  for  so  singular  a 
circumstance.  He  says  in  his  Phases  :  "  On  the  whole, 
this  reading  [of  the  Apostolical  Fathers]  greatly  exalted 
my  sense  of  the  unapproachable  greatness  of  the  New 
Testament.  The  moral  chasm  between  it  and  the  very 
earliest  Christian  writers  seemed  to  me  so  vast,  as  only 

to  be  accounted  for  by  the  doctrine that  the  New 

Testament  was  dictated  by  the  immediate  action  of  the 
Holy  Spirit."  * 

But  to  resume  the  statement  of  my  early  difficulties. 
I  felt  that  the  anomalies  involved  in  the  theory  of  the 
fictitious  origin  of  the  New  Testament  were  almost  end- 
less ;  I  said  that,  however  hard  to  believe  that  any  men, 
much  less  such  men  as  Jews  of  that  age,  were  capable 
of  such  achievements  as  I  had  already  specified,  I  must 

*  Phases,  p.  25. 


DILEMMAS    OF    AN    INFIDEL    NEOPHYTE.  207 

believe  much  more  still;  for  the  men,  with  all  their 
wisdom,  were  fools  enough  to  make  their  enterprise  in- 
finitely more  hazardous,  —  by  intrusting  the  execution 
of  it  to  a  league  of  many  minds,  thus  multiplying  in- 
definitely their  chances  of  contradiction ;  by  adopting 
every  kind  and  style  of  composition,  full  of  reciprocal 
allusions  ;  and,  above  all,  by  dovetailing  their  fabrica- 
tions into  true  history^  thus  encountering  a  perpetual 
danger  of  collision  between  the  two ;  all  as  if  to  accu- 
mulate upon  their  task  every  difficulty  which  ingenuity 
could  devise !  Could  I  believe  that  such  men  as  those 
to  whom  history  restricts  the  problem  had  been  able, 
while  thus  giving  every  advantage  to  the  detection  of 
imposture,  to  invent  a  narrative  so  infinitely  varied  in 
form  and  style,  composed  by  so  many  different  hands^ 
traversing,  in  such  diversified  ways,  contemporary  char- 
acters and  events,  involving  names  of  places,  dates,  and 
numberless  specialities  of  circumstance,  and  yet  main- 
tain a  general  harmony  of  so  peculiar  a  kind,  such  a 
callida  junctura  of  these  most  heterogeneous  materials, 
as  to  have  imposed  on  the  bulk  of  readers  in  all  ages 
an  impression  of  their  artless  truth  and  innocence,  and 
that  they  were  writing  facts^  and  not  fictions  ?  Above 
all,  could  they  be  capable  of  fabricating  those  deeply- 
latent  coincidences,  which,  if  fraud  employed  them, 
overreached  fraud  itself;  lying  so  deep  as  to  be  un- 
discovered for  nearly  eighteen  centuries,  and  only  re 
cently  attracting  the  attention  of  the  world  in  conse 
quence  of  the  objections  of  infidels  themselves  ?  We 
know  familiarly  enough,  that  to  sustain  any  verisimili 
tude  in  a  fictitious  history  (even  though  only  one  man 
has  the  manufacture  of  it)  is  almost  impossible,  because 
the  relations  of  fact  that  must  be  anticipated  and  pro- 
vided against  are  so  infinitely  various,  that  the  writer  is 
certain   to  betray  himself.     The  constant  detection  of 


208  t:ie  eclipse  of  faith. 

very  limited  fabrications  of  a  similar  nature,  when  evi- 
dence is  sifted  in  a  court  of  justice,  shows  us  the  im- 
possibility of  weaving  a  plausible  texture  of  this  kind. 
Many  things  are  sure  to  have  been  forgotten  which 
mght  to  have  been  remembered.  If  this  be  the  case, 
3ven  where  one  mind  has  the  fabrication  of  the  whole, 
how  much  more  would  it  be  the  case  if  many  minds 
were  engaged  in  the  conspiracy?  Should  we  not  ex- 
pect, at  the  very  least,  the  hesitating,  suspicious,  self- 
betraying  tone  usual  in  all  such  cases  ?  Could  we  ex- 
pect that  general  air  of  truth  which  so  undeniably  pre- 
vails throughout  the  New  Testament,  —  the  inimitable 
tone  of  nature,  earnestness,  and  frank  sincerity,  which, 
in  the  case  of  such  extravagant  forgeries,  would  alone 
be  marvellous  traits  ?  But,  at  all  events,  could  we  ex- 
pect those  minute  coincidences,  which  lay  too  deep  for 
the  eye  of  all  ordinary  readers,  and  would  never  have 
been  discovered  had  not  infidelity  provoked  Paley  and 
others  to  excavate  those  subterranean  galleries  in  which 
they  are  found  ? 

And  here  again  I  interrupted  my  narrative  to  remark, 
that  Professor  Newman  acknowledges  the  force  of  these 
coincidences,  and,  as  usual,  gives  no  account  of  them. 
He  says  of  the  Horae  Paulinse,  in  his  "  Phases  "  :  "  This 
book  greatly  enlarged  my  mind  as  to  the  resources  of 
historical  criticism.  Previously  my  sole  idea  of  criti- 
cism was  that  of  the  discreet  discernment  of  style ;  but  I 
now  began  to  understand  what  powerful  argument  rose 
out  of  combinations ;  and  the  very  complete  establish- 
ment which  this  work  gives  to  the  narrative  concerning 
Paul  in  the  latter  half  of  the  Acts  appeared  to  me  to 
reflect  critical  honor  on  the  whole  New  Testament."  * 

But  once  more  to  resume  my  statement.     Upon  men- 

*  '    •     -    ■  *  Phases,  p>23. 


DILEMMAS    OF    AN    INFIDEL    NEOPHYTE.  209 

tioning  these  and  such  like  considerations  to  my  infidel 
friend,  who  pleaded  that  the  New  Testament  was 
fiction,  he  replied,  "  As  to  the  harmony  in  these  fictions, 
—  if  they  be  such,  —  you  must  acknowledge  that  it  is 
not  absolute :  there  are  discrepancies." 

Yes,  I  said,  there  are  discrepancies,  I  admit ;  and  I 
was  about  to  mention  that  as  another  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  my  reception  of  this  theory  I  refer  to  the 
nature  and  the  limits  of  those  discrepancies.  If  there 
had  been  an  absolute  harmony,  even  to  the  minutest 
point,  I  am  persuaded  that,  on  the  principles  of  evidence 
in  all  such  cases,  many  would  have  charged  collusion 
on  the  writers,  and  have  felt  that  it  was  a  corroboration 
of  the  theory  of  the  fictitious  origin  of  these  composi- 
tions. But  as  the  case  stands,  the  discrepancies,  if  the 
compositions  be  fictitious  indeed,  are  only  a  proof  that 
these  men  attained  a  still  more  wonderful  skill  in  aping 
verisimilitude  than  if  there  had  been  no  discrepancies 
at  all.  They  have  left  in  the  historic  portions  of  their 
narrative  an  air  of  general  harmony,  with  an  exquisite 
congruity  in  points  which  lie  deep  below  the  surface, — 
a  congruity  which  they  must  be  supposed  to  have 
known  would  astonish  the  world  when  once  discovered ; 
and  have  at  the  same  time  left  certain  discrepancies  on 
the  surface  (which  criticism  would  be  sure  to  point 
out),  as  if  for  the  very  purpose  of  affording  guaranties 
and  vouchers  against  the  suspicion  of  collusion!  The 
discords  increase  the  harmony.  Once  more,  I  asked, 
could  I  believe  Jews,  Jews  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius  or 
Nero,  equal  to  all  these  wonders  ? 

But  all  this,  even  all  this,  I  said,  was  as  nothing  com- 
pared with  another  difficulty  involved  in  this  theory. 
How  came  these  fictions,  containing  such  monstrousi 
romance,  if  romance  at  all,  and  equally  monstrous  doc- 
trines, to  be  believed ;  to  be  believed  by  multitudes  of 

18* 


\ 


210  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

Jews  and  Gentiles,  both  opposed  and  equally  opposed 
to  them  by  previous  inveterate  superstition  and  prej- 
udice? How  came  so  many  men  of  such  different 
races  and  nations  of  mankind  to  hasten  to  unclothe 
themselves  of  all  their  previous  beliefs  in  order  to  adopt 
these  fantastical  fables  ?  How  came  they  to  persist  in 
regarding  them  as  authoritative  truth  ?  How  came  so 
many  in  so  many  different  countries  to  do  this  at  once  ? 
Nay,  I  added  with  a  laugh,  I  think  there  are  distinct 
traces,  as  far  as  we  have  any  evidence,  that  these  very 
peculiar  fictions  must  have  been  believed  by  many  be- 
fore they  were  even  compiled  and  published. 

My  infidel  friend  mused,  and  at  last  said,  "  I  agree 
with  you  that  these  compositions  could  not  have  been 
fictions  in  the  ordinary  sense,  —  that  is,  deliberately 
composed  by  a  conspiracy  of  highly  imaginative  minds. 
That  last  argument  alone,  of  their  success^  is  conclusive 
against  that ;  but  may  they  not  have  been  legends  which 
gradually  assumed  this  form  out  of  floating  traditions 
and  previous  popular  and  national  prepossessions?" 
In  short,  he  faintly  sketched  a  notion  somewhat  sirnilar 
to  that  mythic  theory,  since  so  elaborately  wrought  out 
by  Strauss. 

I  answered  somewhat  as  follows  :  —  In  the  first  place, 
on  this  hypothesis,  all  the  intellectual  and  moral  anoma- 
lies of  the  last  theory  reappear.  That  such  legends 
should  have  been  the  product  of  the  Jewish  mind 
(whether  designedly  or  undesignedly,  consciously  or 
unconsciously,  makes  no  difference),  is  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal difficulties.  If  it  had  been  objected  to  Pere  Har- 
douin,  that  Virgil's  "  ^neid  "  could  not  have  been  com- 
posed by  one  of  the  monks  of  the  Middle  Ages,  I  suppose 
that  it  would  have  been  no  relief  from  the  difficulties  of 
his  hypothesis  to  say  that  it  was  a  gradual,  uncon- 
sciously formed  deposit  of  the  monkish  mind  !   But  be- 


DILEMMAS    OF    AN    INFIDEL    NEOPHYTE.  2tT 

sides  all  this,  I  said,  the  theory  was  loaded  with  other 
absurdities  specially  its  own ;  for  we  must  then  believe 
all  the  indications  of  historic  plausibility  to  which  I  had 
adverted  in  speaking  of  the  previous  theory  to  be  the 
work  of  accident;  a  supposition,  if  possible,  still  more 
inconceivable  than  that  some  superhuman  genius  for 
fiction  had  been  employed  on  their  elaboration.  Things 
moulder  into  rubbishy  but  they  do  not  moulder  into/a6- 
rics.  And  then  (I  continued)  the  greatest  difficulty, 
as  before,  reappears,  —  how  came  these  queer  legends^ 
the  product  whether  of  design  or  accident,  to  be  be- 
lieved? Jews  and  Gentiles  were  and  must  have  been, 
thoroughly  opposed  to  them. 

To  this  he  replied,  "  I  suppose  the  belief,  as  you  also 
do,  anterior  to  the  books,  which  express  that  belief, 
but  did  not  cause  it.  I  suppose  the  Christian  system 
already  existing  as  a  floating  vapor  and  merely  con- 
densed into  the  written  form.  It  was  a  gradual  for- 
mation, like  the  Greek  and  Indian  mythologies."  I 
thought  on  this  for  some  time,  and  then  said  something 
like  this :  — 

Worse  and  worse  ;  for  I  fear  that  the  age  of  Augus- 
tus was  no  age  in  which  the  world  was  likely  to  frame 
a  mythology  at  all :  —  if  it  had  been  such  an  age,  the 
problem  does  not  allow  sufficient  time  for  it;  —  if  there 
had  been  sufficient  time,  it  would  not  have  been  such  a 
mythology ;  —  and  if  there  had  been  any  formed,  it 
would  not  have  been  rapidly  embraced,  any  more  than 
other  mythologies,  by  men  of  different  races,  but  would 
have  been  confined  to  that  which  gave  it  birth. 

As  to  the  j^r^^  point,  you  ask  me  to  believe  that  some- 
thing like  the  mythology  of  the  Hindoos  or  Egyptians 
could  spring  up  and  diffuse  itself  in  such  an  age  of  civ- 
ilization and  philosophy,  books  and  history ;  whereas 
all  experience  shows  us  that  only  a  time  of  barbarism, 


212  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

before  authentic  history  nas  commenced,  is  proper  to 
the  birth  of  such  monstrosities  ;  that  this  congelation  of 
tradition  and  legend  takes  place  only  during  the  long 
frosts  and  the  deep  night  of  ages,  and  is  impossible  in 
the  bright  sun  of  history  ;  — in  whose  very  beams,  nev- 
ertheless, these  prodigious  icicles  are  supposed  to  have 
been  formed  I 

As  to  the  second  point,  you  ask  me  to  believe  that 
the  thing  should  be  done  almost  instantly  ;  for  in  A.  D. 
1,  we  find,  by  all  remains  of  antiquity,  that  both  Jews 
and  Gentiles  were  reposing  in  the  shadow  of  their  an- 
cient superstitions  ;  and  in  A.  D.  60,  multitudes  among 
different  races  had  become  the  bigoted  adherents  of  this 
novel  mythology  ! 

As  to  the  third  point,  you  ask  me  to  believe  that 
such  a  mythology  as  Christianity  could  have  sprung  up 
when  those  amongst  whom  it  is  supposed  to  have  orig- 
inated, and  those  amongst  whom  it  is  supposed  to 
have  been  propagated,  must  have  equally  loathed  it. 
National  prepossessions  of  the  Jews !  Why,  the  kind  of 
Messiah  on  which  the  national  heart  was  set,  the  invet- 
eracy with  which  they  persecuted  to  the  death  the  one 
that  offered  himself,  and  the  hatred  with  which  for 
eighteen  hundred  years  they  have  recoiled  from  him, 
sufficiently  show  how  preposterous  this  notion  is !  As 
a  nation,  they  were,  ever  have  been,  and  are  now,  more 
opposed  to  Christianity  than  any  other  nation  on  earth. 
Prepossessions  of  the  Gentiles  !  There  was  not  a  Mes- 
siah that  a  Jew  could  frame  a  notion  of,  but  would  have 
been  an  object  of  intense  loathing  and  detestation  to 
them  all !  Yet  you  ask  me  to  believe  that  a  mythology 
originated  in  the  prejudices  of  a  nation  the  vast  bulk  of 
whom  from  its  commencement  have  most  resolutely  re- 
jected  it,  and  was  rapidly  propagated  among  other  na- 
tions and  races,  who  must  have  been  prejudiced  against 


DILEMMAS    OF    AN    INFIDEL    NEOPHYTE.  213 

it ;  who  even  abjured  in  its  favor  those  venerable  super 
stitions  which  were  consecrated  by  the  most  powerful 
associations  of  antiquity ! 

As  to  the  fourth  point,  you  ask  me  to  believe  that,  at 
a  juncture  when  all  the  wjrld  was  divided  between 
deep-rooted  superstition  and  incredulous  scepticism, — 
divided,  as  regards  the  Jews,  into  Pharisees  and  Saddu- 
cees,  and,  as  regards  the  Gentiles,  into  their  Pharisees 
and  Sadducees,  that  is,  into  the  vulgar  who  believed, 
or  at  least  practised,  all  popular  religions,  and  the  phi- 
losophers who  laughed  at  them  all,  and  whose  com- 
bined hostility  was  directed  against  the  supposed  new 
mythology,  —  it  nevertheless  found  favor  with  multi- 
tudes in  almost  all  lands !  You  ask  me  to  believe  that 
a  mythology  was  rapidly  received  by  thousands  of  differ- 
ent races  and  nations,  when  all  history  proclaims,  that 
it  is  with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  any  such  system 
ever  passes  the  limits  of  the  race  which  has  originated 
it ;  and  that  you  can  hardly  get  another  race  even  to 
look  at  it  as  a  matter  of  philosophic  curiosity!  You 
ask  me  to  believe  that  this  system  was  received  by 
multitudes  among  many  different  races,  both  of  Asia 
and  Europe,  without /orce,  when  a  similar  phenomenon 
has  never  been  witnessed  in  relation  to  any  mythology 
whatever!  Thus,  after  asking  me  to  burden  myself 
with  a  thousand  perplexities  to  account  for  the  origin 
of  these  fables,  you  afterguards  burden  me  with  a  thou- 
sand more,  to  account  for  their  success  !  Lastly,  you 
ask  me  to  believe,  not  only  that  men  of  different  races 
and  countries  became  bigotedly  attached  to  legends 
which  none  were  likely  to  originate,  which  all  were 
likely  to  hate,  and,  most  of  all,  those  who  are  supposed 
to  have  originated  them ;  but  that  they  received  them 
as  historic  facts,  when  the  known  recency  of  their  origin 
must  have  shown  the  ^vorld  that  they  were  the  legenda- 


214  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

ry  birth  of  yesterday ;  and  that  they  acted  thus,  though 
those  who  propagated  these  legends  had  no  military 
power  no  civil  authority,  no  philosophy,  no  science,  no 
one  instrument  of  human  success  to  aid  them,  while 
the  opposing  prejudices  which  everywhere  encountered 
them  had  !     I  really  know  not  how  to  believe  all  this. 

"  There  are  certainly  many  difficulties  in  the  matter," 
candiiUy  replied  my  infidel  friend.  But,  as  if  wishing 
to  effect  a  diversion,  —  "  Have  you  ever  read  Gibbon's 
celebrated  chapter  ?  " 

Why,  yes,  I  told  him,  two  or  three  years  before ; 
but  he  does  not  say  a  syllable  in  solution  of  my  chief 
difficulties;  he  does  not  tell  me  any  thing  as  to  the 
origin  of  the  ideas  of  Christianity,  nor  who  could  have 
written  the  wonderful  books  in  which  they  are  em- 
bodied; besides,  said  I,  in  my  simplicity,  he  yields 
the  point,  by  allowing  miracles  to  be  the  most  potent 
cause  of  the  success  of  Christianity. 

"  Ah,"  he  replied,  "  but  every  one  can  see  that  he  is 
there  speaking  ironically." 

Why,  then,  said  I,  laughing,  I  fear  he  is  telling  us 
how  the  success  of  Christianity  cannot  be  accounted 
for,  rather  than  how  it  can. 

"  O,  but  he  gives  you  the  secondary  causes;  which 
it  is  easy  to  see  he  considers  the  principal ;  and  also 
sufficient." 

I  will  read  him  again,  I  said,  and  with  deep  atten- 
tion. Some  time  after,  in  meeting  with  the  same 
friend,  I  began  upon  Gibbon's  secondary  causes. 

"  They  have  given  you  satisfaction,  I  hope." 

Any  thing  but  that,  I  replied ;  they  do  not,  as  I  said 
before,  touch  my  principal  difficulties ;  and  even  as  to 
the  success  of  the  system  when  once  elaborated,  —  his 
reasons  are  cither  a  mere  restatement  of  the  difficulty 
to  be  solved,  or  aggravate  it  indefinitely. 


DILEMMAS    OF    AN    INFIDEL    NEOPHYTE.  215 

"  You  are  hard  to  be  pleased,"  he  replied. 

I  said  I  was,  except  by  solid  arguments.  But  does 
Gibbon  offer  them  ?  I  asked. 

He  tells  us,  for  example,  that  the  virtues,  energy,  and 
zeal  of  the  early  Church  was  a  main  instrument  of  the 
success  of  Christianity ;  whereas  it  is  the  very  origina- 
tion of  the  early  Church,  with  all  these  efficacious  en- 
dowments, that  we  want  to  account  for :  it  is  as  though 
he  had  told  me  that  we  might  account  for  the  success 
of  Christianity  from  the  fact  that  it  had  succeeded  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  render  its  further  success  very 
probable  !  As  for  the  rest  of  his  secondary  causes,  they 
are  difficulties  in  its  way  rather  than  auxiliaries.  He 
asks  me  to  believe  that  the  intolerance  of  Christianity 
—  by  which  it  refused  all  alliance  with  other  religions, 
and  insisted  in  reigning  alone  or  not  at  all,  by  which  it 
spat  contempt  on  the  whole  rabble  of  the  Pantheon  — 
was  likely  to  facilitate  its  reception  among  nations, 
whose  pride  and  whose  pleasure  alike  it  w^as  to  encour- 
age civilities  and  compliments  between  their  Gods, 
each  of  whom  was  on  gracious  visiting  terms  with  its 
neighbors !  He  asks  me,  in  effect,  to  believe  that  the 
austerity  of  the  Christians  tended  to  give  them  favor 
in  the  eyes  of  an  accommodating  and  jovial  Heathen- 
ism ;  that  the  severity  of  manners  by  which  they  re- 
proved it,  and  which  to  their  contemporaries  must  have 
appeared  (as  we  know  from  the  Apologists  it  did)  much 
as  Puritan  grimace  to  the  court  of  Charles  II.,  was 
somehow  attractive!  That  the  scruples  with  which 
they  recoiled  from  all  usages  and  customs  which  could 
be  associated  with  the  elegant  pomp  of  Pagan  wor- 
ship, and  the  suspicion  with  which,  as  having  been 
linked  with  idolatry,  they  looked  on  every  emanation 
of  that  spirit  of  beauty  which  reigned  over  the  exterior 
life  of  Paganism,  would  operate  as  a  charm  in  their 


216  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

favor !  That  their  studied  absence  from  all  scenes  of 
social  hilarity,  their  grave  looks  on  festal  days,  their  un- 
garlanded  heads,  their  simple  attire,  their  utter  estrange- 
ment from  the  Graces,  which  in  truth  were  the  only 
legitimate  Gods  in  Greece,  and  the  true  mothers  of  the 
whole  family  of  Olympus,  would  be  likely  to  concili- 
ate towards  the  Gospel  the  favorable  dispositions  of 
classic  antiquity!  I  have  not  so  read  history,  nor  so 
learnt  human  nature.  Again,  he  asks  me  to  believe, 
that  the  immortality  which  Christianity  promised  the 
Heathen  —  such  an  immortality  —  was  another  of  the 
things  which  tended  to  give  it  success ;  —  on  the  one 
hand,  a  menace  of  retribution,  not  for  flagrant  crimes 
only,  which  Heathenism  itself  punished,  nor  for  those 
lax  manners  which  the  easy  spirit  of  Paganism  had 
made  venial,  but  for  spiritual  vices,  of  which  it  took  no 
account,  some  of  which  it  had  even  consecrated  as 
virtues ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  an  offer  of  a  paradise 
which  promised  nothing  but  delights  of  a  spiritual  or- 
der; a  paradise  which,  whatever  material  or  imaginative 
adjuncts  it  might  have,  certainly  disclosed  none ;  which 
presented  no  one  thing  to  gratify  the  prurient  curiosity 
of  man's  fancy,  or  the  eager  passions  of  his  sensual  na- 
ture ;  which  must,  in  fact,  have  been  about  as  inviting 
to  the  soul  of  a  Heathen  as  the  promise  of  an  eternal 
Lent  to  an  epicure !  Surely  these  were  resistless  se  • 
ductions.  Yet  it  is  to  such  things  as  auxiliaries  that 
Gibbon  refers  me  for  the  success  of  Christianity.  Veri- 
ly it  is  not  without  reason  that  he  is  called  a  master  of 
irony ! 

My  friend  fairly  acknowledged  the  difficulties  of  the 
subject,  but  said  he  could  not  believe  in  the  truth  of 
Christianity. 

I  repaired  to  another  infidel  acquaintance  "  It  is  a 
perplexing,  a  very  perplexing  controversy,  no  doubt,'* 


DILEMMAS    OF    AN    INFIDEL    NEOPHYTE.  217 

was  his  reply ;  "  but  every  thing  tends  to  show  that 
Christianity  resembles  in  its  principal  features  all  those 
other  religions  which  you  admit  to  be  false.  All  have 
their  prodigies  and  miracles, — their  revelations  and  in- 
spirations, —  their  fragments  of  truth  and  their  masses 
of  nonsense.     They  are  all  to  be  rejected  together." 

I  again  puzzled  for  a  long  time  over  this  aspect  of 
the  case.  At  last  I  said  to  him,  —  This  seems  a  curious 
way  of  disposing  of  the  evidence  for  Christianity ;  for  if 
there  be  any  true  religion,  it  is  likely,  as  in  all  other 
cases,  that  the  counterfeits  will  have  some  features  in 
common  with  it.  It  would  follow,  also,  that  there  can 
be  no  true  philosophy  ;  since,  while  there  are  scores  of 
philosophies,  only  one  can  be  true.  But  I  have  another 
difficulty :  on  comparing  Christianity  with  other  sys- 
tems, I  find  vital  dift'erences,  both  as  regards  theory  and 
fact  As  regards  theory,  I  find  an  insuperable  difficulty, 
not  merely  in  imagining  how  Jews,  Greeks,  or  Romans, 
any  or  all  of  them,  should  have  been  the  originators  of 
Christianity,  but  how  hmnan  nature  should  have  been 
fool  enough  to  originate  it  at  all !  For  I  am  asked  to 
believe  that  man,  such  as  I  know  him  through  all  his- 
tory, such  as  he  appears  in  so  many  forms  of  religion 
which  have  been  his  undoubted  and  most  worthy  fab- 
rication, did,  whether  fraudulently  or  not,  whether  de- 
signedly or  unconsciously,  frame  a  religion  which  is  in 
striking  contrast  with  all  his  ordinary  handiwork  of  this 
sort!  This  religion  enjoins  the  austerest  morality; 
human  religions  generally  enjoin  a  very  lax  one;  — this 
demands  the  most  refined  purity,  even  of  the  thoughts 
and  desires ;  other  religions  usually  attach  to  external 
and  ceremonial  observances  greater  weight  than  to 
morality  itself ;  —  this  is  singularly  simple  in  its  rites  ; 
they  for  the  most  part  consist  of  little  else ;  —  this  ex- 
hibits a  singular  silence  and  abstinence  in  relation  to 

19 


218  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

the  future  and  invisible  ;  they  amply  indulge  the  im 
agination  and  fancy,  and  are  full  of  delineations  calcu- 
lated to  gratify  man's  most  natural  curiosity; — this 
takes  under  its  special  patronage  those  virtues  which 
man  is  least  likely  to  love  or  cultivate,  and  which  men 
in  general  regard  as  pusillanimous  infirmities,  if  not 
vices  ;  they  patronize  the  most  energetic  passions,  - 
the  passions  which  made  the  demigods  and  heroes  of 
antiquity.  I  am  not  saying  which  is  the  better  in  these 
respects ;  I  am  only  saying  that  human  nature  appears 
more  true  to  itself  in  the  last.  And  so  notorious  is  all 
this,  that  the  corruptions  of  Christianity,  as  years  rolled 
on,  have  ever  been  to  assimilate  it  to  the  other  relig- 
ions of  the  earth  ;  to  abate  its  spirituality ;  to  relax  its 
austere  code  of  morals ;  to  commute  its  proper  claims 
for  external  observances ;  to  encumber  its  ritual  with 
an  infinity  of  ceremonies ;  and,  above  all,  to  uncover 
the  future  and  invisible,  on  which  it  left  a  veil,  and  add 
a  purgatory  into  the  bargain!  Thus,  whether  con- 
trasted with  other  religions  or  with  its  corrupted  self, 
/Christianity  does  not  seem  a  religion  which  human 
nature  would  be  pleased  to  invent. 

Again,  is  it  like  the  other  religious  products  of  human 
nature,  in  daring  to  aspire  to  universal  dominion,  and 
that  too  founded  on  moral  power  alone?  Never,  till 
Christianity  appeared,  had  such  an  imagination  ever 
entered  the  mind  of  man!  Other  religions  were  na- 
tional affairs;  their  gods  never  dreamed  of  such  an 
enterprise  as  that  of  subduing  all  nations.  They  were 
naturally  contented  with  the  country  that  gave  them 
birth,  and  the  homage  of  the  race  that  worshipped 
them.  They  were,  when  not  themselves  asoailed,  very 
tolerant,  and  did  the  civil  thing  by  all  other  gods  of  all 
other  nations,  and  were  even  content  to  expire  with 
great  propriety  (they  usually  did  so)  with  the  political 


DILEMMAS    OF    AN    INFIDEL    NEOPHYTE.  219 

extinction  of  the  race  of  their  votaries !  Christianity 
alone  adopts  a  different  tone,  —  "  Go  ye,  and  preach  the 
Gospel  to  all  nations,"  —  and  declares,  not  only  that  it 
will  reign,  but  that  none  other  shall.  It  will  not  endure 
a  rival ;  it  will  not  consent  to  have  a  statue  with  the 
mob  of  the  Pantheon.  Whether  this  ambition  —  call  it 
pride  and  folly,  if  you  will,  as  you  well  may  if  the  thing 
be  merely  human  —  was  likely  to  suggest  itself  to  man, 
considering  the  local  and  national  character  of  other 
religions,  and  the  apparent  hopelessness  of  any  such 
enterprise,  I  have  my  doubts.  Arrogance  it  may  be ; 
but  it  is  not  such  arrogance  as  is  very  natural  to  man. 

These,  I  said,  were  amongst  a  few  of  the  things  in 
which  I  must  say  I  thought  the  theory  of  Christianity 
very  unlike  that  of  any  religion  human  nature  was 
likely  to  invent. 

If,  I  continued,  I  examine  the  past  history  and  pres- 
ent position  of  Christianity,  with  an  impartial  eye,  I 
see  that  it  presents  in  several  most  important  respects 
a  contrast  with  other  religions  in  point  oifact.  I  shall 
content  myself  with  enumerating  a  few.  Look,  then, 
at  the  perpetual  spirit  of  aggression  which  character- 
izes this  rehgion;  its  undeniable  power  (in  whatever  it 
consists,  and  from  whatever  it  springs)  to  prompt  those 
who  hold  it  to  render  it  victorious^  —  a  spirit  which  has 
more  or  less  characterized  its  whole  history ;  which 
still  lives,  even  in  its  most  coiTupt  forms,  and  which 
has  not  been  least  active  in  our  own  time.  I  do  not 
see  any  thing  like  it  in  other  religions.  Till  I  see  Mol- 
lahs  from  Ispahan,  Brahmins  from  Benares,  Bonzes 
from  China,  preaching  their  systems  of  religion  in  Lon- 
don, Paris,  and  Berlin,  supported  year  after  year  by 
an  enormous  expenditure  on  the  part  of  their  zealous 
compatriots,  and  the  nations  who  support  them  taking 
the  liveliest  interest  in  their  success  or  failure,    till  I 


220  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

see  this  (call  it  fanatical  if  you  will,  the  money  thus 
expended  wasted,  the  men  who  give  it  fools),  I  shall 
not  be  able  to  pronounce  Christianity  simply  on  a  par 
with  other  religions. 

Till  the  sacred  books  of  other  religions  can  boast  of 
at  least  a  hundredth  part  of  the  same  efforts  to  trans- 
late and  diffuse  them  as  have  been  concentrated  on  the 
Bible ;  till  we  find  them  in  at  least  half  as  many  lan- 
guages; till  they  can  render  those  who  possess  them 
at  least  a  tenth  part  as  willing  to  make  costly  efforts  to 
insure  to  them  a  circulation  coextensive  with  the  family 
of  man ;  till  they  occupy  an  equal  space  in  the  litera- 
ture of  the  world,  and  are  equally  bound  up  with  the 
philosophy,  history,  poetry,  of  the  community  of  civil- 
ized nations ;  till  they  have  given  an  equal  number  of 
human  communities  a  written  language,  and  may  thus 
boast  of  having  imparted  to  large  sections  of  the  human 
family  the  germ  of  all  art,  science,  and  civilization ;  till 
they  can  cite  an  equal  amount  of  testimonies  to  their 
beauty  and  sublimity /rom  those  who  reject  their  divine 
original^  —  I  shall  scarcely  think  Christianity  can  be  put 
simply  on  a  par  with  other  religions. 

Till  it  can  be  said  that  the  sacred  books  of  other 
religions  are  equally  unique  in  relation  to  all  the  litera- 
ture in  which  they  are  imbedded ;  similar  neither  to 
what  precedes  nor  what  comes  after  them,  — their  ene- 
mies themselves  being  judges ;  till  they  can  be  shown 
to  be  as  superior  to  all  that  is  found  in  contempora- 
neous authors  as  the  New  Testament  is  to  the  writings 
of  Christian  Fathers  or  the  Jewish  Rabbis,  —  I  cannot 
say  that  Christianity  is  just  like  any  other  religion. 

Till  we  can  find  a  religion  that  has  stood  as  many 
different,  assaults  from  infidelity  in  the  midst  of  it, — 
educated  infidelity,  infidelity  aided  by  learning,  genius, 
philosophy,  freely  employing  all  the  power  of  argument 


DILEMMAS    OF    AN    INFIDEL    NEOPHYTE.  221 

and  all  the  power  of  ridicule  to  disabuse  its  votaries ; 
till  \<re  can  find  a  religion  which  can  point  to  an  equal 
array  of  educated  men,  philosophic  in  spirit,  in  learn- 
ing, and  genius,  deeply  skilled  in  the  investigation  of 
evidence,  deliberately  declaring  that  its  claims  are  well 
sustained,  —  we  cannot  say  that  Christianity  is  just 
like  any  other  religion. 

Till  it  can  be  shown  that  another  religion,  to  an  equal 
extent,  has  propagated  itself  without  force  amongst  to- 
tally different  races,  and  in  the  most  distant  countries, 
and  has  survived  equal  revolutions  of  thought  and  opin- 
ion, manners  and  laws,  amongst  those  who  have  em- 
braced it,  it  cannot  be  said  that  Christianity  is  simply 
like  any  other  religion. 

Till  it  can  be  shown  that  the  sacred  books  of  other 
religions  have  contained  predictions  as  definite  and  as 
unlikely  to  be  fulfilled  as  the  success  of  early  Chris- 
tianity against^all  the  opposition  of  prejudice  and  perse- 
cution, —  its  voluntary  reception  amongst  different  races, 
contrary  to  all  the  analogies  of  religious  history,  —  and 
the  continued  preservation  of  the  Jews  among  all  na- 
tions without  forming  a  part  of  any,  —  I  cannot  think 
that  Christianity  is  precisely  in  the  condition  of  any 
other  religion. 

Such,  gentlemen,  were  some  few  of  the  differences 
in  fact  which  seemed^orne,  not  less  than  its  theory,  to 
discriminate  Christianity  from  other  religions.  Had  I, 
in  those  days  of  my  youth,  been  favored  with  the  views 
of  modern  "  spiritualism,"  I  should  have  added,  that  till 
it  is  shown  that  some  other  religion  has  possessed  an 
equal  power  of  moulding  those  characters  whom  Mr. 
Newman  points  out  as  the  best  examples  of  "  spiritual " 
refigion,  and  can  point  to  oracles  equally  pervaded  by 
that  "  sentiment "  which  he  declares  is  wanting  in 
Greek  philosophers,  English  Deists,  and  German  Pan- 

19* 


222  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

theists,  but  which,  he  admits,  pervades  the  Bible ;  till 
I  see  the  devout  men  whom  he  extols  produced  by 
other  religions,  or  rather,  I  ought  to  say,  produced 
without  them  (where  Christianity  however  is  unknown) 
by  the  unaided  "  spiritual  faculty,"  —  I  cannot  but  think 
that  the  position  of  Christianity  is  somewhat  discrimi- 
nated both  from  o/Aer  religions  and  from  "  Naturalism." 

Such,  I  said,  to  conclude,  was  an  imperfect  outline 
ot  some  of  my  early  conflicts,  and  such  the  cruel  mode 
in  which  my  unbelieving  friends  laughed  at  each  other's 
hypotheses,  and  left  me  destitute  of  any.  Finding  that 
they  conclusively  confuted  one  another,  and  perceiving 
at  last  that  the  idea  of  the  superhuman  origin  of  Chris- 
tianity did,  and,  as  Bishop  Butler  says,  alone  can,  re- 
solve all  the  difficulties  of  the  subject,  I  was  compelled 
to  forego  all  the  advantages  of  infidelity,  and  conde- 
scended to  "  depress  "  my  conscience  to  the  "  Biblical 
standard  "  !  Would  to  Heaven  that  it  had  never  been 
depressed  below  it ! 

I  am  bound  to  say  my  auditors  listened  with  courtesy. 

The  conversation  was  now  carried  on  in  little  knots  : 
I,  who  was  glad  of  a  rest,  was  occupied  in  listening  to 
a  conversation  between  Harrington  and  his  Italian 
friend,  who  was  urging  him  to  take  refuge  from  such 
a  Babel  of  discords  as  his  company  had  uttered,  in  the 
only  secure  asylum.  Harrington  told  him,  with  the 
utmost  gravity,  that  one  great  objection  to  the  Church 
of  Rome  was  the  unseemly  liberty  she  allowed  to  the 
right  of  private  judgment ;  that  he  found  in  her  com- 
munion distractions  the  most  perplexing,  especially  as 
between  English  and  foreign  Romanists  ! 


After  the  party  had  broken  up,  and  we  were  left 
alone,  Mr.   Fellows  s,  turning  to  me,  said,  "  You  lay 


SKIRMISHES.  223 

great  sUess  on  the  origination  of  such  a  character  as 
Christ.  But  can  we  make  its  reality  a  literary  problem  ? 
May  it  not  have  been  imaginary  ?  As  Mr.  Newman 
says,  *  Human  nature  is  often  portrayed  in  super- 
human dignity  ;  why  not  in  superhuman  goodness  V  " 

"  That  the  origination,"  said  I,  "  of  suck  a  Moral 
Ideal,  in  so  peculiar  a  form,  by  such  men  as  Galilean 
Jews,  is  unaccountable  enough,  I  fancy  all  will  admit; 
but  it  is,  you  observe,  only  one  of  the  numberless  points 
which  are  unaccountable ;  neither  do  I  make  this  one 
feature,  or  any  of  the  other  singular  characteristics  of 
the  New  Testament,  merely  a  literary  problem.  The 
whole,  you  see,  is  a  vast  literary,  moral,  intellectual, 
spiritual,  and  historical  problem.  But  it  is  too  much 
the  w^ay  with  you  objectors  to  say,  *  This  may,  perhaps, 
be  got  over,'  and  *  That  may  be  got  over ' ;  the  question 
is,  as  Bishop  Butler  says,  whether  all  can  be  got  over  ; 
for  if  all  the  arguments  for  it  be  not  false,  Christianity 
is  true. 

"  You  charge  us  with  the  very  conduct,"  retorted 
Fellowes,  "which  Mr.  Newman  objects  to  Christians. 
They,  says  he,  affirm  that  this  objection  is  of  little 
weight,  and  that  is  of  little  weight ;  whereas  altogether 
they  amount  to  considerable  weight." 

"  I  admit  it,"  said  I ;  "  and  those  are  very  unfair  who 
deny  it.  But  still,  since  there  are  these  things  of  weight 
on  both  sides,  the  argument  returns,  on  which  side  does 
the  balance  on  tLs  sum-total  of  evidence  lie  ?  " 

"  But,"  said  Fellowes,  "  how  few  are  competent  to 
compute  that !  " 

"  You  are  really  pleasant,  Mr.  Fellowes,"  I  replied ; 
"  I  thought  the  question  we  were  arguing  was  as  to  the 
truth  or  the  falsehood  of  Christianity,  not  whether  the 
bulk  of  mankind  are  fully  competent  to  form  an  inde- 
pendent and  profound  judgment  on  its  evidences ;  very 


224  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

few  are  competent  to  do  so  either  on  this  or  any  other 
complex  subject ;  certainly  not  (as  om'  differences  show) 
on  the  subject  of  your  '  spiritualism.'  But  the  incom- 
petency of  the  great  bulk  of  mankind  to  deal  with  com- 
plicated evidence  makes  a  thing  neither  true  nor  false ; 
perhaps  on  this,  as  on  so  many  other  subjects,  the  few 
must  thoroughly  sift  the  matter  for  the  many.  If  your 
present  objection  were  of  force,  what  would  become  of 
truth  in  politics,  law,  medicine,  in  all  which  the  great 
majority  must  trust  much  to  the  conclusions  of  their 
wiser  fellow-creatures  ?  Your  observation  is  no  confu- 
tation of  the  evidences  for  Christianity :  it  is  simply  a 
satire  upon  God  and  the  condition  of  the  human  crea- 
tures he  has  made ! " 

"  Well,  let  that  pass,"  said  Fellowes ;  "  I  was  going 
to  say  further,  that  it  is  not  so  clear  to  every  one  that 
Christ  is  so  very  wonderful  an  ideal  of  humanity.  Do 
you  remember  that  Mr.  Newman  says  in  his  '  Phases,' 
that,  when  he  was  a  boy,  he  read  Benson's  Life  of 
Fletcher  of  Madely,  and  thought  Fletcher  a  more  per- 
fect man  than  Jesus  Christ  ?  and  he  also  says  that  he 
imagines,  if  he  were  to  read  the  book  again,  he  would 
think  the  same.     Have  you  nothing  to  say  to  that  ?  " 

"  Nothing,  "  said  I,  "  except  to  point  you  to  the 
infinitely  different  estimates  of  Christ  formed  by  other 
men  who  yet  think  of  historical  Christianity  much  as 
you  do.  How  differently  do  such  writers  as  Mr.  Greg 
and  Mr.  Parker  speak !  How  do  they  almost  exhaust 
the  resources  of  language  to  express  their  sentiments  of 
this  wonderful  character !  As  to  Mr.  Newman's  im- 
pression^ I  do  not  think  it  worth  an  answer.  When  a 
man  so  far  forgets  himself  as  to  say  what  he  can  hardly 
help  knowing  will  be  unspeakably  painful  to  multi- 
tudes of  his  fellow-creatures,  on  the  strength  of  boyish 
'mpressions, — not  even  thinking  it  worth  while  to  verify 


SKIRMISHES. 


225 


those  iinpressijns,  and  see  whether,  after  thirty  or  forty 
years,  he  is  nc  b  something  more  than  a  boy,  —  I  think 
it  is  scarcely  ^orth  while  to  reply.  Christianity  is  will- 
ing to  consider  the  arguments  of  men,  but  not  the 
impressions  of  hoysy 

"But  we  must  not  be  too  hard,"  said  Harrington, 
"  upon  Mr.  Newman ;  it  is  evident,  from  his  Hebrew 
Monarchy,  that,  as  he  takes  a  benevolent  pleasure  in 
defending  those  whom  nobody  else  will  defend,  —  in 
petting  Ahab,  whom  he  pronounces  rather  weak  than 
wicked,  and  palliating  Jezebel,  whose  character  was, 
it  seems,  grievously  deteriorated  by  contact  with  the 
'prophets  of  Jehovah,'  —  so  he  has  a  chivalrous  habit 
of  depressing  those  who  have  been  particularly  the  ob- 
jects of  veneration.  Elisha,  Samuel,  and  David  are  all 
brought  down  a  great  many  degrees  in  the  moral  scale. 
He  has  simply  done  the  same  with  Christ." 

"  Well,"  said  Fellowes,  "  I  cannot  help  agreeing 
with  Mr.  Newman  in  thinking  that,  when  one  hears 
men  made  the  objects  of  extravagant  eulogy,  it  almost 
'  tempts  one,  even  though  a  stranger  to  their  very  name, 
to  "  pick  holes,"  as  the  saying  is.' " 

"  It  may  be  so,"  said  I ;  "  but  it  is  a  tendency  against 
which  we  shou-d  guard.  It  would  lead  us,  like  him  of 
Athens,  to  ostracize  Aristides :  we  should  be  weary  of 
hearing  him  continually  called  '  The  Just.' " 

"  However,"  rejoined  Fellowes,  "  I  am  weary  of  hear- 
ing Christ  so  perpetually  called  our  example.  As  Mr. 
Newman  says,  he  cannot,  except  in  a  very  modified 
sense,  be  such.     *  His  garments  will  not  fit  us.'  " 

"Did  you  ever  hear,"  said  I,  "that  fathers  and 
mothers  ought  to  set  an  example  to  their  children  ?  " 

"  Certainly." 

"  Yet  surely  not  in  all  things  can  they  be  such. 
Their  garments  surely  will  not  fit  their  children." 


226  THE    ECLIPSE    OP    FAITH. 

"  No,"  said  Harrington ;  "  those  of  the  father  at  all 
events  will  not,  if  they  are  girls,  nor  of  the  mother,  if 
^they  are  boys.  Fellowes,  I  think  you  had  better  say 
nothing  on  this  subject.  If  men  of  fifty  can,  in  all  es- 
sential points,  be  beautiful  examples  to  girls  of  ten,  — 
in  gentleness,  in  patience,  in  humility,  in  kindness,  and 
so  forth,  —  and  all  the  more  impressively  for  the  wide 
interval  between  them,  why,  I  suppose  Jesus  Christ 
may  be  as  much  to  his  disciples." 

"But,  again,"  urged  Fellowes  to  me,  "you,  like  so 
many  men,  seem  to  lay  such  stress  on  the  superiority 
of  the.  morality  of.  the  New  Testament.  I  cannot  see 
it.  I  confess,  with  Mr.  Foxton  and  many  more,  that 
it  seems  to  me  that  it  has  not  such  a  very  great  advan^ 
tage  over  that  of  many  heathen  moralists  who  have 
said  the  same  things,  —  Plato,  for  example." 

I  replied,  that,  of  course,  it  would  be  of  no  avail  to 
affirm  in  general  (what  I  was  yet  convinced  was  true), 
that  the  New  Testament  inculcated  a  system  of  ethics 
much  more  just  and  comprehensive  than  any  other 
volume  in  the  world.  I  told  him,  however,  that  I 
thought  he  would  not  deny  that  its  manner  of  conveying 
ethical  truth  was  unique;  that  it  not  only  contained 
more  admirable  and  varied  summaries  of  duty  than  any 
other  book  whatever,  but  that  we  should  seek  in  vain 
in  any  other  for  such  a  profusion  of  just  maxims  and 
weighty  sentiments,  expressed  with  such  comprehensive 
brevity,  or  illustrated  with  so  much  beauty  and  pathos. 
I  remarked  that,  if  he  would  be  pleased  to  do  as  I  had 
once  done,  —  compile  a  selection  of  the  principal  pre- 
cepts and  maxims  from  the  most  admirable  ethical 
works  of  antiquity  (those  of  Aristotle,  for  example),, 
and  compare  them  with  two  or  three  of  the  summaries 
of  similar  precepts  in  the  New  Testament,  —  he  would 
at  once  feel  how  much  more  vivid,  touching,  animated, 


CHRISTIAN    ETK  ICS.  227 

and  even  comprehensive,  was  the  Scriptural  expression 
of  the  same  truths.  But  I  further  observed,  that,  even 
to  obtain  the  means  of  such  comparison,  he  must  reject^ 
from  Plato  or  the  Stagyrite  twenty  times  the  bulk  of 
questionable  speculations,  and  dreary  subtilties,  which 
separate  by  long  intervals  those  gems  of  moral  truth, 
which  everywhere  sparkle  on  the  pages  of  the  New 
Testament. 

I  told  him  I  could  not  help  laying  great  stress  on 
the  degree  and  manner  in  which  this  element  enters 
into  the  composition  of  the  New  Testament;  that  ethi- 
cal truths  are  there  expressed  in  every  variety  of  form 
which  can  fix  them  upon  the  imagination  and  the  heart, 
with  an  entire  absence  of  those  prolix  discussions  and 
metaphysical  refinements  which  form  so  large  a  portion 
of  Aristotle  and  Plato.  If  we  find  in  these  writers  a 
moral  truth  expressed  with  something  approaching  the 
comprehensive  beauty  and  simplicity  of  the  Gospels, 
we  are  filled  with  surprise  aad  rapture,  and  dig  out 
with  joy  the  glittering  fragment  from  the  mass  of  earthy 
matter,  —  oppressive  disquisitions  about  "ideas"  and 
"  essences,"  "  energies  "  and  "  entelechies,"  and  so  forth, 
in  which  it  is  sure  to  be  imbedded.  I  promised,  if 
health  and  life  were  given,  to  exhibit  some  day  these 
gems,  with  a  sufficient  portion  of  the  surrounding  earth 
stUl  attached  to  them,  and  to  contrast  them  with  those 
of  the  New  Testament.  "  In  this  strange  volume,"  I 
continued,  "the  most  beautiful  ethical  maxims  exist 
in  unexampled  profusion.  After  reading  Aristotle's 
ethics,  I  feel,  when  I  turn  to  the  New  Testament, 
as  Linnaeus  is  said  to  have  felt  when  he  first  saw 
growing  wild  the  masses  of  blooming  gorse,  which  he 
had  never  seen  in  his  cold  North,  except  as  a  sheltered 
exotic.  Whether  it  was  likely  that  contemporaries  of 
the  Pharisees^  who  were  sunk  in  formalism,  and  who 


228  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

had  glossed  away  every  moral  and  spiritual  precept  of 
the  Law,  could  reach  and  maintain  such  elevation  of 
,tone,  I  leave  you^to  judge."  But  though  I  felt  all 
this,  I  acknowledged  that  it  was  difficult  to  express 
it ;  and  said  that  perhaps  the  best  way  to  compare  the 
morality  of  the  New  Testament  with  the  ethical  system 
of  any  philosopher,  or  the  code  of  any  legislator,  would 
be  to  imagine  them  all  universally  adopted,  and  then 
see  how  much  would  have  to  be  objected  to,  —  how 
much  "  brick  "  was  mingled  with  the  "  porphyry."  "  If, 
for  example,"  said  I,  "  Plato,  who,  I  admit,  so  often 
flashes  upon  us  the  sublimest  and  most  comprehensive 
principles  of  morals,  and  whose  ethical  system  you  say 
is  identical  with  that  of  Christianity,  had  the  forming  of 
a  republic,  you  would  have  community  of  women  and 
property,  —  women  trained  to  war,  —  infanticide  under 
certain  circumstances,  —  young  children  led  to  battle 
(though  at  a  safe  distance),  that  'the  young  whelps 
might  early  scent  carnage,  and  be  inured  to  slaughter ' ! 
Both  with  him  and  Aristotle  slavery  would  be  a  regu- 
larly sanctioned  and  perfectly  natural  institution.  Not 
only  did  they  entertain  very  lax  notions  of  the  relations 
of  the  sexes,  but  the  tone  in  which  they  speak  of  the 
most  abominable  corruptions  —  I  do  not  except  canni- 
balism—  to  which  humanity  has  ever  degraded  itself, 
implied  that  they  regarded  such  things  as  comparative- 
ly venial  I  know  no  greater  single  names  than  these, 
and  I  presume  that  these  points  you  would  find  some 
difficulty  in  digesting."     He  admitted  it. 

I  told  him  I  supposed  he  would  take  equal  objec- 
tions to  the  Gentoo,  or  the  Roman,  or  the  Spartan 
code,  as  also  to  the  Koran.     He  admitted  all  this  too. 

"  But  now,  if  we  take  the  Christian  code,  and  sup- 
pose the  New  Testament  made  the  literal  guide  of  life 
in  every  man,  tell  me,   Mr.  Fellowes,  what  would  be 


CHRISTIAN    ETHICS.  229 

the    consequence?      What    would    you    wish    Ccher- 
wise  ?  " 

"  Why,"  said  Harrington,  smiling,  "  he  would,  per% 
haps,  object  that  there  would  be  no  more  war,  and  that 
retaliation  would  be  impossible." 

"  The  former,"  said  I,  "  we  could  all  endure,  I  sup- 
pose ;  nor  be  unwilling  to  give  up  the  latter,  seeing  that 
there  would,  in  that  case,  be  no  wrongs  to  avenge.  It 
would  not  matter  that  you  would  be  compelled  to  turn 
your  right  cheek  to  him  who  smote  you  on  the  left  (let 
the  interpretation  be  as  literal  as  you  will),  since  no 
one  would  strike  you  on  the  left ;  nor  that  you  must 
surrender  your  cloak  to  him  who  took  away  your  coat, 
since  no  one  would  take  your  coat.  But  tell  me,  is 
there  any  thing  more  serious  that  would  follow  from  the 
literal  and  universal  adoption  of  the  ethics  of  the  New 
Testament?"  Fellowes  acknowledged  that  he  knew 
of  nothing,  unless  it  was  a  sanction  of  slavery. 

"  I  do  not  admit  that  the  New  Testament  sanctions 
it,"  I  replied ;  "  and  I  will,  if  you  like,  give  my  reasons 
in  full,  another  time.  But  is  there  any  thing  else  ? " 
He  said  he  did  not  recollect  any  thing. 

"  But  you  would  recoil  from  the  literal  realization  of 
the  systems  and  codes  we  have  mentioned."  He  con- 
fessed this  also. 

"  The  superiority  of  the  Christian  code,  then,"  said  I, 
"  is  practically  acknowledged.  And  it  is  further  often 
confessed,  in  a  most  significant  way,  by  the  mode  in 
which  the  enemies  of  Christianity  taunt  its  disciples. 
When  they  speak  of  the  vices  and  corruptions  of  the 
heathen,  they  blame,  and  justly  blame,  the  principles  of 
their  vicious  systems ;  and  ask  how  it  could  be  other- 
wise ?  When  they  blame  the  Christian,  the  first  and 
the  last  thing  they  usually  do,  is  to  point  in  triumph 
to  the   contrast  between   his   principles  and  practice. 

20 


230  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

*  How  much  better,'  say  they,  '  is  his  code  than  his 
conduct ! '  It  is  as  a  hypocrite  that  they  censure  liim. 
It  is  sad  for  him  that  it  should  be  so ;  but  it  is  a  glo- 
rious compKment  to  the  morality  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Its  enemies  know  not  how  to  attack  its  disci- 
ples, except  by  endeavoring  to  show  that  they  do  not 
act  as  it  bids  them.  Surely,"  said  I,  in  conclusion, 
"this  uniform  excellence  of  the  Christian  ethics,  as 
compared  with  other  systems,  is  a  peculiarity  worth 
noting,  and  utterly  incomprehensible  upon  the  hypothe- 
sis that  it  was  the  unaided  work  of  man.  That  there 
are  points  on  which  the  moral  systems  of  men  and 
nations  osculate^  is  most  true ;  that  there  should  have 
been  certain  approximations  on  many  most  important 
subjects  was  to  be  expected  from  the  essential  identity 
of  human  nature,  in  all  ages  and  countries ;  but  their 
deviations  in  some  point  or  other  —  usually  in  several 
—  from  what  we  acknowledge  to  be  both  right  and  ex- 
pedient, is  equally  undeniable.  That,  when  such  men 
as  Plato  and  Aristotle  tried  their  hands  upon  the  prob- 
lem, they  should  err,  while  the  writers  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament should  have  succeeded,  —  that  these  last  should 
do  what  all  mankind  besides  had  in  some  points  or 
other  failed  to  do,  —  is  sufficiently  wonderful ;  that  GaU 
ilean  Jews  should  have  solved  the  problem  is,  whether 
we  consider  their  age,  their  ignorance,  or  their  prepos- 
sessions, to  me  utterly  incredible." 

It  was  now  very  late ;  and  we  rose  to  retire.  Mr. 
Fellowes  said,  "  I  should  be  glad  to  know  what  answer 
you  would  make  to  Mr.  Newman's  observations  on  three 
points,  —  one  of  them  just  alluded  to,  —  on  which  he 
affirms  that  undue  credit  has  been  given  to  Christianity ; 
I  mean  its  supposed  elevating  influence  in  relation  to 
women,  its  supposed  mitigation  of  slavery,  and  its  sup- 
posed triumphs  before  Constantine." 


THE    BLANK    BIBLE.  231 

I  said  I  would  scribble  a  few  remarks  on  the  subject, 
and  would  give  them  to  him  in  a  day  or  two.  I  re- 
marked that  Mr.  Newman  had  treated  these  great  sub- 
jects very  briefly,  but  that  I  could  not  be  quite  so  con- 
cise as  he  had  been. 


The  discussions  of  the  preceding  day  had  made  so 
deep  an  impression  upon  me,  that  when  I  went  to  bed 
I  found  it  very  difficult  to  sleep ;  and  when  I  did  get 
off  at  last,  my  thoughts  shaped  themselves  into  a  sin- 
gular dream,  which,  though  only  a  dream,  is  not,  I 
think,  without  instruction.     I  shall  entitle  it 

The  Blank  Bible. 

*EtXi;v  ytyaaveiv  WKTl(f)oiT  oveipara. 

JEschyl.  Prom.  Vinct.  657. 

I  thought  I  was  at  home,  and  that  on  taking  up  my 
Greek  Testament  one  morning  to  read  (as  is  my  wont) 
a  chapter,  I  found,  to  my  surprise,  that  what  seemed  to 
be  the  old,  familiar  book  was  a  total  blank ;  not  a  char- 
acter was  inscribed  in  it  or  upon  it.  I  supposed  that 
some  book  like  it  had,  by  some  accident,  got  into  its 
place;  and,  without  stopping  to  hunt  for  it,  took  down 
a  large  quarto  volume  which  contained  both  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments.  To  my  surprise,  however,  this 
also  was  a  blank  from  beginning  to  end.  With  that 
facility  of  accommodation  to  any  absurdities  which  is 
proper  to  dreams,  I  did  not  think  very  much  of  the 
coincidence  of  two  blank  volumes  having  been  sub&ti- 
tuted  for  two  copies  of  the  Scriptures  in  two  different 
places,  and  therefore  quietly  reached  down  a  copy  of 
the  Hebrew  Bible,  in  which  I  could  just  manage  to 
make  out  a  chapter.  To  my  increased  surprise,  and 
even  something  like  terror,  I  found  that  this  also  was  a 


232  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

perfe(  b  blaa  t.  While  I  was  musing  on  this  unaccount- 
able phenomenon,  my  servant  entered  the  room,  and  said 
that  thieves  had  been  in  the  house  during  the  night,  for 
that  her  large  Bible,  which  she  had  left  on  the  kitchen 
table,  had  been  removed,  and  another  volume  left  by 
mistake  in  its  place,  of  just  the  same  size,  but  made  of 
nothing  but  white  paper.  She  added,  with  a  laugh, 
that  it  must  have  been  a  very  queer  kind  of  thief  to 
steal  a  Bible  at  all ;  and  that  he  should  have  left  anoth- 
er book  instead,  made  it  the  more  odd.  I  asked  her  if 
any  thing  else  had  been  missed,  and  if  there  were  any 
signs  of  people  having  entered  the  house.  She  answered 
in  the  negative  to  both  these  questions  ;  and  I  began  to 
be  strangely  perplexed. 

On  going  out  into  the  street,  I  met  a  friend,  who, 
almost  before  we  had  exchanged  greetings,  told  me  that 
a  most  unaccountable  robbery  had  been  committed  at 
his  house  during  the  night,  for  that  every  copy  of  the 
Bible  had  been  removed,  and  a  volume  of  exactly  the 
same  size,  but  of  pure  white  paper,  left  in  its  stead. 
Upon  telling  him  that  the  same  accident  had  happened 
to  myself,  we  began  to  think  that  there  was  more  in  it 
than  we  had  at  first  surmised. 

On  proceeding  further,  we  found  every  one  complain- 
ing, in  similar  perplexity,  of  the  same  loss  ;  and  before 
night  it  became  evident  that  a  great  and  terrible  "  mir- 
acle "  had  been  wrought  in  the  world ;  that  in  one 
night,  silently,  but  effectually,  that  hand  which  had 
written  its  terrible  menace  on  the  walls  of  Belshazzar's 
palace  had  reversed  the  miracle ;  had  sponged  out  of 
our  Bibles  every  syllable  they  contained,  and  thus  re- 
claimed the  most  precious  gift  which  Heaven  had  be- 
stowed, and  ungrateful  man  had  abused. 

I  was  curious  to  watch  the  effects  of  this  calamity 
on  the  varied  characters  of  mankind.     There  was  uni- 


THE    BLANK    BIBLE. 

versally,  however,  an  interest  in  the  Bible  now  it  was 
lost^  such  as  had  never  attached  to  it  while  it  was  pos- 
sessed; and  he  who  had  been  but  happy  enough  to 
possess  fifty  copies  might  have  made  his  fortune.  One 
keen  speculator,  as  soon  as  the  first  whispers  of  the 
miracle  began  to  spread,  hastened  to  the  depositories  of 
the  Bible  Society  and  the  great  book-stocks  in  Pater- 
noster Row,  and  offered  to  buy  up  at  a  high  premium 
any  copies  of  the  Bible  that  might  be  on  hand ;  but 
the  worthy  merchant  was  informed  that  there  was 
not  a  single  copy  remaining.  Some,  to  whom  their 
Bible  had  been  a  "  blank  "  book  for  twenty  years,  and., 
who  would  never  have  known  whether  it  was  full  or 
empty  had  not  the  lamentations  of  their  neighbors 
impelled  them  to  look  into  it,  were  not  the  least  loud 
in  their  expressions  of  sorrow  at  this  calamity.  One 
old  gentleman,  who  had  never  troubled  the  book  in  his 
afe,  said  it  was  "  confounded  hard  to  be  deprived  of  his 
religion  in  his  old  age  "  ;  and  another,  who  seemed  to 
have  lived  as  though  he  had  always  been  of  Mande- 
ville's  opinion,  that  "  private  vices  were  public  benefits," 
was  all  at  once  alarmed  for  the  morals  of  mankind.  He 
feared,  he  said,  that  the  loss  of  the  Bible  would  have  "  a 
cursed  bad  effect  on  the  public  virtue  of  the  country." 

As  the  fact  was  universal  and  palpable,  it  was  impos- 
sible that,  like  other  miracles,  it  should  leave  the  usual 
loopholes  for  scepticism.  Miracles  in  general,  in  order 
to  be  miracles  at  all,  have  been  singular  or  very  rare 
violations  of  a  general  law,  witnessed  by  a  few,  on 
whose  testimony  they  are  received,  and  in  the  reception 
of  whose  testimony  consists  the  exercise  of  that  faith  to 
which  they  appeal.  It  was  evident,  that,  whatever  the 
reason  of  this  miracle,  it  was  not  an  exercise  of  docile 
and  humble  faith  founded  on  evidence  no  more  than  just 
sufficient  tc  operate  as  a  moral  test.     This  was  a  mira" 

20  * 


234  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

cle  which,  it  could  not  be  denied,  looked  marvellously 
like  a  "judgment."  However,  there  were,  in  some  cases, 
indications  enough  to  show  how  difficult  it  is  to  give 
such  evidence  as  will  satisfy  the  obstinacy  of  mankind. 
One  old  sceptical  fellow,  who  had  been  for  years  bed- 
ridden, was  long  in  being  convinced  (if,  indeed,  he  ever 
was)  that  any  thing  extraordinary  had  occurred  in  the 
world  ;  he  at  first  attributed  the  reports  of  what  he  heard 
to  the  "  impudence  "  of  his  servants  and  dependents,  and 
wondered  that  they  should  dare  to  venture  upon  such  a 
joke.  On  finding  these  assertions  backed  by  those  of 
his  acquaintance,  he  pished  and  pshawed,  and  looked 
very  wise,  and  ironically  congratulated  them  on  this 
creditable  conspiracy  with  the  insolent  rascals,  his  ser- 
vants. On  being  shown  the  old  Bible,  of  which  he 
recognized  the  binding,  though  he  had  never  seen  the 
inside,  and  finding  it  a  very  fair  book  of  blank  paper,  he 
quietly  observed  that  it  was  very  easy  to  substitute  the 
one  book  for  the  other,  though  he  did  not  pretend  to 
divine  the  motives  which  induced  people  to  attempt  such 
a  clumsy  piece  of  imposition  ;  and,  on  their  persisting 
that  they  were  not  deceiving  him,  swore  at  them  as  a 
set  of  knaves,  who  would  fain  persuade  him  out  of  his 
senses.  On  their  bringing  him  a  pile  of  blank  Bibles, 
backed  by  the  asseverations  of  other  neighbors,  he  was 
ready  to  burst  with  indignation.  "  As  to  the  volumes," 
he  said,  "  it  was  not  difficult  to  procure  a  score  or  two 
'  of  commonplace  books,'  and  they  had  doubtless  done 
so  to  carry  on  the  cheat ;  for  himself,  he  would  sooner 
believe  that  the  whole  world  was  leagued  against  him, 
than  credit  any  such  nonsense."  They  were  angry,  iu 
their  turn,  at  his  incredulity,  and  told  him  that  he  was 
very  much  mistaken  if  he  thought  himself  of  so  much 
importance  that  they  would  all  perjure  themselves  to 
lelude  liim,  since  they  saw  plainly  enough  that  he  could 


THE    BLANK    BIBLE. 


aas 


do  that  very  easily  for  himself,  without  any  help  of  theirs. 
They  really  did  not  care  one  farthing  whether  he  be- 
lieved them  or  not ;  if  he  did  not  choose  to  believe  the 
story,  he  might  leave  it  alone.  "  Well,  well,"  said  he, 
"it  is  all  very  fine;  but  unless  yon  show  me,  not  one 
of  these  blank  books,  which  could  not  impose  upon  an 
owl,  but  one  of  the  very  blank  Bibles  themselves^  I  will 
not  believe."  At  this  curious  demand,  one  of  his 
nephews  who  stood  by  (a  lively  young  fellow)  was  so 
exceedingly  tickled,  that,  though  he  had  some  expecta- 
tions from  the  sceptic,  he  could  not  help  bursting  out 
into  laughter ;  but  he  became  grave  enough  when  his 
angry  uncle  told  him  that  he  would  leave  him  in  his 
will  nothing  but  the  family  Bible,  which  he  might  make 
a  leger  if  he  pleased.  Whether  this  resolute  old 
sceptic  ever  vanquished  his  incredulity,  I  do  not  re- 
member. 

Very  different  from  the  case  of  this  sceptic  was  that 
of  a  most  excellent  female  relative,  who  had  been 
equally  long  a  prisoner  to  her  chamber,  and  to  whom 
the  Bible  had  been,  as  to  so  many  thousands  more,  her 
faithful  companion  in  solitude,  and  the  all-sufficient 
solace  of  her  sorrows.  I  found  her  gazing  intently  on 
the  blank  Bible,  which  had  been  so  recently  bright  to 
her  with  the  lustre  of  immortal  hopes.  She  burst  into 
tears  as  she  saw  me.  "  And  has  your  faith  left  you  too, 
my  gentle  friend  ?  "  said  I.  "  No,"  she  answered,  "  and 
I  trust  it  never  wiU.  He  who  has  taken  away  the 
Bible  has  not  taken  away  my  memory,  and  I  now  re- 
call all  that  is  most  precious  in  that  book  which  has  so 
long  been  my  meditation.  It  is  a  heavy  judgment  upon 
the  land ;  and  surely,"  added  this  true  Christian,  never 
thinking  of  the  faults  of  others,  "  I,  at  least,  cannot  com- 
plain, for  I  have  not  prized  as  I  ought  that  book,  which 
yet,  of  late  year^,  I  think  I  can  say,  I  loved  more  than 


236  THE    ECLIPSE    OF   FAl^H. 

any  other  possession  on  earth.  But  I  know,"  she  con- 
tinued, smiling  through  her  tears,  "  that  the  sun  shines, 
though  clouds  may  veil  him  for  the  moment ;  and  I  am 
unshaken  in  my  faith  in  those  truths  which  have  been 
transcribed  on  my  memory,  though  they  are  blotted 
from  my  book.  In  these  hopes  I  have  lived,  and  in 
these  hopes  I  will  dieP  "  I  have  no  consolation  to 
offer  to  you,"  said  I,  "  for  you  need  none."  She  quoted 
many  of  the  passages  which  have  been,  through  all 
ages,  the  chief  stay  of  sorrowing  humanity ;  and  I 
thought  the  words  of  Scripture  had  never  sounded  so 
solemn  or  so  sweet  before.  "  I  shall  often  come  to  see 
you,"  I  said,  "  to  hear  a  chapter  in  the  Bible,  for  you 
know  it  far  better  than  I." 

No  sooner  had  I  taken  my  leave,  than  I  was  informed 
that  an  old  lady  of  my  acquaintance  had  summoned 
me  in  haste.  She  said  she  was  much  impressed  by 
this  extraordinary  calamity.  As,  to  my  certain  knowl- 
edge, she  had  never  troubled  the  contents  of  the  book,  I 
was  surprised  that  she  had  so  taken  to  heart  the  loss  of 
that  which  had,  practically,  been  lost  to  her  all  her  days. 
"  Sir,"  said  she,  the  moment  I  entered,  "  the  Bible,  the 
Bible."  "  Yes,  madam,"  said  I,  "  this  is  a  very  grievous 
and  terrible  visitation.  I  hope  we  may  learn  the  les- 
sons which  it  is  calculated  to  teach  us."  "  I  am  sure," 
answered  she,  "  I  am  not  likely  to  forget  it  for  a  while, 
for  it  has  been  a  grievous  loss  to  me."  "  I  told  her  I 
was  very  glad."  "  Glad ! "  she  rejoined.  "  Yes,"  I  said, 
"  I  am  glad  to  find  that  you  think  it  so  great  a  loss,  for 
that  loss  may  then  be  a  gain  indeed.  There  is,  thanks 
be  to  God,  enough  left  in  our  memories  to  carry  us  to 
heaven."  "  Ah !  but,"  said  she,  "  the  hundred  pounds 
and  the  villany  of  my  maid-servant.  Have  you  not 
heard  ?  "  This  gave  me  some  glimpse  as  to  the  secret 
of  her  sorrow.     She  told  me  that  she  had  deposited 


THE    BLANK    BIBLE.  237 

several  bai:k-notes  in  the  leaves  of  her  family  Bible, 
thinking  that,  to  be  sure,  nobody  was  likely  to  look 
there  for  them.  "  No  sooner,"  said  she,  "  were  the 
Bibles  n;ade  useless  by  this  strange  event,  than  my 
servant  peeped  into  every  copy  in  the  house,  and  she 
now  denies  that  she  found  any  thing  in  my  old  family 
Bible,  except  two  or  three  blank  leaves  of  thin  paper, 
which,  she  says,  she  destroyed;  that,  if  any  characters 
were  ever  on  them,  they  must  have  been  erased,  when 
those  of  the  Bible  were  obliterated.  But  I  am  sure 
she  lies ;  for  who  would  believe  that  Heaven  took  the 
trouble  to  blot  out  my  precious  bank-notes.  They  were 
not  God's  word,  I  trow."  It  was  clear  that  she  con- 
sidered the  "  promise  to  pay "  better  by  far  than  any 
"  promises  "  which  the  book  contained.  "  I  should  not 
have  cared  so  much  about  the  Bible,"  she  whined,  hypo- 
critically, "  because,  as  you  truly  observe,  our  memories 
may  retain  enough  to  carry  us  to  heaven,"  —  a  little  in 
that  case  would  certainly  go  a  great  way,  I  thought  to 
myself,  —  "  and  if  not,  there  are  those  who  can  supply 
the  loss.  But  who  is  to  get  my  bank-notes  back  again  ? 
Other  people  have  only  lost  their  Bibles."  It  was,  in- 
deed, a  case  beyond  my  power  of  consolation. 

The  calamity  not  only  strongly  stirred  the  feelings  of 
men,  and  upon  the  whole,  I  think,  beneficially,  but  it 
immediately  stimulated  their  ingenuity.  It  was  won- 
derful to  see  the  energy  with  which  men  discussed  the 
subject,  and  the  zeal,  too,  with  which  they  ultimately 
exerted  themselves  to  repair  the  loss.  I  could  even 
hardly  regret  it,  when  I  considered  what  a  spectacle  of 
intense  activity,  intellectual  and  moral,  the  visitation 
had  occasioned.  It  was  very  early  suggested,  that  the 
whole  Bible  had  again  and  again  been  quoted  piece- 
meal in  one  book  or  other ;  that  it  had  impressed  its 
own  iriage  on  the  surface  of  human  literature,  and  had 


288  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

been  reflected  on  its  course  as  the  stars  on  a  stream. 
But,  alas !  on  investigation,  it  was  found  as  vain  to  ex- 
pect that  the  g]ea,m  of  starlight  would  still  remain  mir- 
rored in  the  water  when  the  clouds  had  veiled  the  stars 
themselves,  as  that  the  bright  characters  of  the  Bible 
would  remain  reflected  in  the  books  of  man  when  they 
had  been  erased  from  the  Book  of  God.  On  inspection, 
it  was  found  that  every  text,  every  phrase  which  had 
been  quoted,  not  only  in  the  books  of  devotion  and  the- 
ology, but  in  those  of  poetry  and  fiction,  had  been  re- 
morselessly expunged.  Never  before  had  I  had  any 
adequate  idea  of  the  extent  to  which" the  Bible  had 
moulded  the  intellectual  and  moral  life  of  the  last  eigh- 
teen centuries,  nor  how  intimately  it  had  interfused 
itself  with  habits  of  thought  and  modes  of  expression ; 
nor  how  naturally  and  extensively  its  comprehensive 
imagery  and  language  had  been  introduced  into  human 
writings,  and  most  of  all  where  there  had  been  most  of 
genius.  A  vast  portion  of  literature  became  instantly 
worthless,  and  was  transformed  into  so  much  waste- 
paper.  It  was  almost  impossible  to  look  into  any  book 
of  any  merit,  and  read  ten  pages  together,  without  com- 
ing to  some  provoking  erasures  and  mutilations,  some 
"  hiatus  valde  deflendi,"  which  made  whole  passages 
perfectly  unintelligible.  Many  of  the  sweetest  passages 
of  Shakspeare  were  converted  into  unmeaning  nonsense, 
from  the  absence  of  those  words  which  his  own  all  but 
divine  genius  had  appropriated  from  a  still  diviner 
source.  As  to  Milton,  he  was  nearly  ruined,  as  might 
naturally  be  supposed.  Walter  Scott's  novels  were 
filled  with  perpetual  lacunce.  I  hoped  it  might  be  other- 
wise with  the  philosophers,  and  so  it  was ;  but  even 
here  it  was  curious  to  see  what  strange  ravages  the 
visitation  had  wrought.  Some  of  the  most  beautiful 
and  comprehensive  of  Bacon's  Aphorisms  were  reduced 
to  enigmatical  nonsense. 


THE    BLANK    BIBLE.  239 

Those  who  held  large  stocks  of  books  knew  not  what 
to  do.  Ruin  stared  them  in  the  face ;  their  value  fell 
seventy  or  eighty  per  cent.  All  branches  of  theology, 
in  particular,  were  a  drug.  One  fellow  said,  that  he 
should  not  so  much  have  minded  if  the  miracle  had 
sponged  out  what  was  human  as  well  as  what  was 
divine,  for  in  that  case  he  would  at  least  have  had  so 
many  thousand  volumes  of  fair  blank  paper,  which  was 
as  much  as  many  of  them  were  worth  before.  A  wag 
answered,  that  it  was  not  usual,  in  despoiling  a  house, 
to  carry  away  any  thing  except  the  valuables.  Mean- 
time, millions  of  blank  Bibles  filled  the  shelves  of  sta- 
tioners, to  be  sold  for  day-books  and  legers,  so  that 
there  seemed  to  be  no  more  employment  for  the  paper- 
makers  in  that  direction  for  many  years  to  come.  A 
friend,  who  used  to  mourn  over  the  thought  of  pa- 
limpsest manuscripts, —  of  portions  of  Livy  and  Cicero 
erased  to  make  way  for  the  nonsense  of  some  old 
monkish  chronicler,  —  exclaimed,  as  he  saw  a  tradesman 
trudging  off  with  a  handsome  morocco-bound  quarto 
for  a  day-book,  "  Only  think  of  the  pages  once  filled 
with  the  poetry  of  Isaiah,  and  the  parables  of  Christ, 
sponged  clean  to  make  way  for  orders  for  silks  and 
satins,  muslins,  cheese,  and  bacon  ! "  The  old. authors, 
of  course,  were  left  to  their  mutilations ;  there  was  no 
way  in  which  the  confusion  could  be  remedied.  But 
the  living  began  to  prepare  new  editions  of  their  works, 
in  which  they  endeavored  to  give  a  new  turn  to  the 
thoughts  which  had  been  mutilated  by  erasure,  and  I 
was  not  a  little  amused  to  see  that  many,  having  stolen 
from  writers  whose  compositions  were  as  much  muti- 
lated as  their  own,  could  not  tell  the  meaninsr  of  their 
own  pages. 

It  seemed  at  first  to  be  a  not  unnatuial  impression, 
that  even  those  who  could  recall  the  erased  texts  as  they 


240  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

perused  the  injured  books,  —  who  could  mentally  fill 
up  the  imperfect  clauses,  —  were  not  at  liberty  to  in- 
scribe them ;  they  seemed  to  fear  that,  if  they  did  so, 
the  characters  would  be  as  if  written  in  invisible  ink,  or 
would  surely  fade  away.  It  was  with  trembling  that 
some  at  length  made  the  attempt,  and  to  their  unspeak- 
able joy  found  the  impression  durable.  Day  after  day 
passed ;  still  the  characters  remained  ;  and  the  people  at 
length  came  to  the  conclusion,  that  God  left  them  at 
liberty,  if  they  could,  to  reconstruct  the  Bible  for  them- 
selves out  of  their  collective  remembrances  of  its  divine 
contents.  This  led  again  to  some  curious  results,  all  ot 
them  singularly  indicative  of  the  good  and  ill  that  is  in 
human  nature.  It  was  with  incredible  joy  that  men 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  book  might  be  thus 
recovered  nearly  entire,  and  nearly  in  the  very  words 
of  the  original,  by  the  combined  effort  of  human  memo- 
ries. Some  of  the  obscurest  of  the  species,  who  had 
studied  nothing  else  but  the  Bible,  but  who  had  well 
studied  that,  came  to  be  objects  of  reverence  among 
Christians  and  booksellers ;  and  the  various  texts  they 
quoted  were  taken  down  with  the  utmost  care.  He 
who  could  fill  up  a  chasm  by  the  restoration  of  words 
which  were  only  partially  remembered,  or  could  con- 
tribute the  least  text  that  had  been  forgotten,  was  re- 
garded as  a  sort  of  public  benefactor.  At  length,  a 
great  public  movement  amongst  the  divines  of  all  de- 
nominations was  projected,  to  collate  the  results  of  these 
partial  recoveries  of  the  sacred  text.  It  was  curious, 
again,  to  see  in  how  various  ways  human  passions  and 
prejudices  came  into  play.  It  was  found  that  the 
several  parties  who  had  furnished  from  memory  the 
same  portions  of  the  sacred  texts  had  fallen  into  a  great 
variety  of  different  readings  ;  and  though  most  of  them 
were  of  as  little  importance  in  themselves  as  the  bulk 


THE    BLANK    BIBLE.'*  241 

uf  those  which  are  paraded  in  the  critical  recensions  of 
Mill,  Griesbach,  or  Tischendorf,  they  became,  from  the 
obstinacy  and  folly  of  the  men  who  contended  about 
them,  important  differences,  merely  because  the  f  were 
differences.  Two  reverend  men  of  the  synod,  I  remem- 
ber, had  a  rather  tough  dispute  as  to  whether  it  was 
twelve  baskets  full  of  fragments  of  the  five  loaves  which 
the  five  thousand  left,  and  seven  baskets  full  of  the  seven 
loaves  which  the  four  thousand  had  left,  or  vice  versa  : 
as  also  whether  the  words  in  John  vi.  19  were  "  about 
twenty  or  five  and  twenty,"  or  "  about  thirty  or  five  and 
thirty  furlongs." 

To  do  the  assembly  justice,  however,  there  was  found 
an  intense  general  earnestness  and  sincerity  befitting 
the  occasion,  and  an  equally  intense  desire  to  obtain, 
as  nearly  as  possible,  the  very  words  of  the  lofet  volume  ; 
only  (as  was  also,  alas !  natural)  vanity  in  some  ;  in 
others,  confidence  in  their  strong  impressions  and  in 
the  accuracy  of  their  memory ;  obstinacy  and  perti- 
nacity in  many  more  (all  aggravated  as  usual  by  con- 
troversy), —  caused  many  odd  embarrassments  before 
the  final  adjustment  was  effected. 

I  was  particularly  struck  with  the  varieties  of  reading 
which  mere  prejudices  in  favor  of  certain  systems  of 
theology  occasioned  in  the  several  partisans  of  each. 
No  doubt  the  worthy  men  were  generally  unconscious 
of  the  influence  of  these  prejudices ;  yet,  somehow,  the 
memory  was  seldom  so  clear  in  relation  to  those  texts 
which  told  against  them  as  in  relation  to  those  which 
told  for  them.  A  certain  Quaker  had  an  impression 
that  the  words  instituting  the  Eucharist  were  preceded 
by  a  qualifying  expression,  "  And  Jesus  said  to  the 
twelve,  Do  this  in  remembrance  of  me"  ;  while  he  could 
not  exactly  recollect  whether  or  not  the  formula  of 
"baptism"  was  expressed  in  the  general  terms  some 

21 


242  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

maintained  it  was.  Several  Unitarians  had  a  clear 
recollection,  that  in  several  places  the  authority  of 
manuscripts,  as  estimated  in  Griesbach's  recension,  was 
decidedly  against  the  common  reading ;  while  the  Trin- 
itarians maintained  that  Griesbach's  recension  in  those 
instances  had  left  that  reading  undisturbed.  An  Epis- 
copalian began  to  have  his  doubts  whether  the  usage 
in  favor  of  the  interchange  of  the  words  "  bishop  "  and 
"  presbyter "  was  so  uniform  as  the  Presbyterian  and 
Independent  maintained,  and  whether  there  was  not  a 
passage  in  which  Timothy  and  Titus  were  expressly 
called  "  bishops. "  The  Presbyterian  and  Independent 
had  similar  biases;  and  one  gentleman,  who  was  a 
strenuous  advocate  of  the  system  of  the  latter,  enforced 
one  equivocal  remembrance  by  saying,  he  could,  as  it 
were,  distinctly  see  the  very  spot  on  the  page  before 
his  mind's  eye.  Such  tricks  will  imagination  play  with 
the  memory,  when  preconception  plays  tricks  with  the 
imagination!  In  like  manner,  it  was  seen  that,  while 
the  Calvinist  was  very  distinct  in  his  recollection  of  the 
ninth  chapter  of  Romans,  his  memory  was  very  faint  as 
respects  the  exact  wording  of  some  of  the  verses  in  the 
Epistle  of  James;  and  though  the  Arminian  had  a 
most  vivacious  impression  of  all  those  passages  which 
spoke  of  the  claims  of  the  law,  he  wass  in  some  doubt 
whether  the  Apostle  Paul's  sentiments  respecting  human 
depravity,  and  justification  by  faith  alone,  had  not  been 
a  little  exaggerated.  In  short,  it  very  clearly  appeared 
that  tradition  was  no  safe  guide ;  that  if,  even  while 
she  was  hardly  a  month  old,  she  could  play  such  freaks 
with  the  memories  of  honest  people,  there  was  but  a 
sorry  prospect  of  the  secure  transmission  of  truth  for 
eighteen  hundred  years.  From  each  man's  memory 
seemed  to  glide  something  or  other  which  he  was  not 
inclined  to  retain  there,  and  each  seemed  to  substitute 
in  its  stead  something  that  he  liked  better. 


THE    BLANK    BIBLE.  243 

Though  the  assembly  was  in  the  main  most  anxious 
to  come  to  a  right  decision,  and  really  advanced  an 
immense  way  towards  completing  a  true  and  faithful 
copy  of  the  lost  original,  the  disputes  which  arose,  on 
almost  every  point  of  theology,  promised  the  world  an 
abundant  crop  of  new  sects  and  schisms.  Already  there 
had  sprung  up  several  whose  names  had  never  been 
heard  of  in  the  world,  but  for  this  calamity.  Amongst 
them  were  two  who  were  called  the  "  Long  Memories  " 
and  the  "  Short  Memories.^^  Their  general  tendencies 
coincided  pretty  much  with  those  of  the  orthodox  and 
the  rationalists. 

It  was  curious  to  see  by  what  odd  associations,  some- 
times of  contrast,  sometimes  of  resemblance,  obscure 
texts  were  recovered,  though  they  were  verified,  when 
once  mentioned,  by  the  consciousness  of  hundreds. 
One  old  gentleman,  a  miser,  contributed  (and  it  was  all 
he  did  contribute)  a  maxim  of  prudence,  which  he  rec- 
ollected, principally  from  having  systematically  abused 
it.  All  the  ethical  maxims,  indeed,  were  soon  collect- 
ed; for  though,  as  usual,  no  one  recollected  his  own 
peculiar  duties  or  infirmities,  every  one,  as  usual,  kindly 
remembered  those  of  his  neighbors.  Husbands  remem- 
bered what  was  due  from  their  wives,  and  wives  what 
was  due  from  their  husbands.  The  unpleasant  sayings 
about  "  better  to  dwell  on  the  house-top "  and  "  the 
perpetual  dropping  on  a  very  rainy  day"  were  called 
to  mind  by  thousands.  Almost  the  whole  of  Proverbs 
and  Ecclesiastes  were  contributed,  in  the  merest  frag- 
ments, in  this  way.  As  for  Solomon's  "  times  for  every 
thing,"  few  could  remember  them  all,  but  every  body 
remembered  some.  Undertakers  said  there  was  a  "  time 
to  mourn,"  and  comedians  that  there  was  a  "  time  to 
laugh " ;  young  ladies  innumerable  remembered  that 
there  was  a  "  time  to  love,"  and  people  of  all  kinds 


244  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH, 

that  there  was  a  "  time  to  hate " ;  every  body  knew 
there  was  a  "  time  to  speak,"  but  a  worthy  Quaker 
reminded  them  that  there  was  also  a  "  time  to  keep 
silence." 

Some  dry  parts  of  the  laws  of  Moses  were  recovered 
by  the  memory  of  jurists,  who  seemed  to  have  no 
knowledge  whatever  of  any  other  parts  of  the  sacred 
volume ;  while  in  like  manner  one  or  two  antiquarians 
supplied  some  very  difficult  genealogical  and  chrono- 
logical matters,  in  equal  ignorance  of  the  moral  and 
spiritual  contents  of  the  Scriptures. 

As  people  became  accustomed  to  the  phenomenon, 
the  perverse  humors  of  mankind  displayed  themselves 
in  a  variety  of  ways.  The  efforts  of  the  pious  assembly 
were  abundantly  laughed  at;  but  I  must,  in  justice, 
add,  without  driving  them  from  their  purpose.  Some 
profane  wags  suggested  there  was  now  a  good  oppor- 
tunity of  realizing  the  scheme  of  taking  "  not "  out  of 
the  Commandments  and  inserting  it  in  the  Creed.  But 
they  were  sarcastically  told,  that  the  old  objection  to 
the  plan  would  still  apply ;  that  they  would  not  sin 
with  equal  relish  if  they  were  expressly  commanded  to 
do  so,  nor  take  such  pleasure  in  infidelity  if  infidelity 
became  a  duty.  Others  said  that,  if  the  world  must 
wait  till  the  synod  had  concluded  its  labors,  the  proph- 
ecies of  the  New  Testament  would  not  be  written  till 
some  time  after  their  fulfilment ;  and  that,  if  all  the  con- 
jectures of  the  learned  divines  were  inserted  in  the  new 
edition  of  the  Bible,  the  declaration  in  John  would  be 
literally  verified,  and  that  "  the  world  itself  would  not 
contain  all  the  books  which  would  be  written." 

But  the  most  amusing  thing  of  all  was  to  see,  as 
time  made  man  more  familiar  with  this  strange  event, 
the  variety  of  speculations  which  were  entertained  re- 
specting its  object  and  design.     Many  began  gravely  to 


THE    BLANK    BIBLE.  I  r  245 

question  whether  it  was  the  duty  of  the  synod  to  at- 
tempt the  reconstruction  of  a  book  of  which  God  him- 
self had  so  manifestly  deprived  the  world,  and  whether 
it  was  not  a  profane,  nay,  an  atheistical,  attempt  to 
frustrate  his  will.  Some,  who  were  secretly  glad  to  be 
released  from  so  troublesome  a  book,  were  particularly 
pious  on  this  head,  and  exclaimed  bitterly  against  this 
rash  attempt  to  counteract  and  cancel  the  decrees  of 
Heaven.  The  Papists,  on  their  part,  were  confident 
that  the  design  was  to  correct  the  exorbitancies  of  a 
rabid  Protestantism,  and  show  the  world,  by  direct 
miracle,  the  necessity  of  submitting  to  the  v'ecision  of 
their  Church  and  the  infallibility  of  the  supreme  Pon- 
tiff; who,  as  they  truly  alleged,  could  decide  all  knotty 
points  quite  as  well  without  the  "Word  of  God  as  with 
it.  On  being  reminded  that  the  writings  of  the  Fathers, 
on  which  they  laid  so  much  stress  as  the  vouchers  of 
their  traditions,  were  mutilated  by  the  same  stroke 
which  had  demolished  the  Bible  (all  their  quotations 
from  the  sacred  volume  being  erased),  some  of  the 
Jesuits  affirmed  that  many  of  the  Fathers  were  rather 
improved  than  otherwise  by  the  omission,  and  that  they 
found  these  writings  quite  as  intelligible  and  not  less 
edifying  than  before.  In  this,  many  Protestants  very 
cordially  agreed.  On  the  other  hand,  many  of  our 
modern  infidels  gave  an  entirely  new  turn  to  the  whole 
affair,  by  saying  that  the  visitation  was  evidently  not 
in  judgment,  but  in  mercy ;  that  God  in  compassion, 
and  not  in  indignation,  had  taken  away  a  book  which 
man  had  regarded  with  an  extravagant  admiration  and 
idolatry,  and  which  they  had  exalted  to  the  place  of 
that  clear  internal  oracle  which  He  had  planted  in  the 
human  breast ;  in  a  word,  that,  if  it  was  a  rebuke  at  all, 
it  was  a  rebuke  to  a  rampant  "  Bibfiolatry."  As  I 
heard  all  these  different  versions  of  so  simple  a  matter, 

21* 


246  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

and  found  that  "not  a  few  were  inclined  to  each,  I  could 
not  help  exclaiming,  "  In  truth  the  Devil  is  a  very  clev- 
er fellow,  and  man  even  a  greater  blockhead  than  I  had 
taken  him  for."  But  in  spite  of  the  surprise  with  which 
I  had  listened  to  these  various  explanations  of  an  event 
which  seemed  to  me  clear  as  if  written  with  a  sunbeam, 
this  last  reason,  which  assigned  as  the  cause  of  God's 
resumption  of  his  own  gift,  an  extravagant  admiration 
and  veneration  of  it  on  the  part  of  mankind,  —  it  being 
so  notorious  that  those  who  professed  belief  in  its  divine 
origin  and  authority  had  (even  the  best  of  them)  so 
grievously  neglected  both  the  study  and  the  practice  of 
it,  —  struck  me  as  so  exquisitely  ludicrous,  that  I  broke 
into  a  fit  of  laughter,  which  awoke  me.  I  found  that  it 
was  broad  daylight,  and  the  morning  sun  was  stream- 
ing in  at  the  window,  and  shining  in  quiet  radiance 
upon  the  open  Bible  which  lay  on  my  table.  So  strong- 
ly had  my  dream  impressed  me,  that  I  almost  felt  as 
though,  on  inspection,  I  should  find  the  sacred  leaves  a 
blank,  and  it  was  therefore  with  joy  that  my  eyes  rested 
on  those  words,  which  I  read  through  grateful  tears : 
"  The  gifts  of  God  are  without  repentance^ 


July  19.  This  morning  my  friends  treated  me  to  a 
long  dialogue,  in  which  it  was  contended 

That  Miracles  are  impossible,  but  that  it  is 
impossible  to  prove   it. 

"  I  think,  Fellowes,"  Harrington  began,  "  if  there  be 
any  point  in  which  you  and  I  are  likely  to  agree,  it  is  in 
that  dogma  that  miracles  are  impossible.  And  yet  here, 
as  usual,  my  sceptical  doubts  pursue  and  baffle  me.  I 
wish  you  would  try  with  me  whether  there  be  not  an 
<^scipe  from  them."     Fellowes  assented. 


A,rr         MIRACLES.   ;    aut  247 

"  As  I  have  to  propose  and  explain  my  doubts,"  said 
Harrington,  "perhaps  you  will  excuse  my  taking  the 
*  lion's  share '  of  the  conversation.  But  now,  by  way 
of  beginning  in  some  way, — what,  my  dear  friend,  is 
a  miracle  ?  " 

"  What  is  a  miracle  ?  Ay,  that  is  the  question  ;  but 
though  it  may  be  difficult  to  find  an  exact  definition  of 
t,  it  is  easily  understood  by  every  body." 

"  Very  likely  ;  then  you  can  with  more  ease  give  me 
your  notion  of  it." 

"  If,  for  example,"  said  Fellowes,  "  the  sun  which  has 
risen  so  long,  every  morning,  were  to  rise  no  more ;  or 
if  a  man,  whom  we  knew  to  be  dead  and  buried,  were 
to  come  to  life  again  ;  or  if  what  we  know  to  be  water 
were  at  once  to  become  wine,  none  would  hesitate  to 
call  that  a  miracle." 

"  You  remember,  perhaps,"  said  Harrington,  "  an 
amusing  little  play  of  Socratic  humor  in  the  dialogue 
of  Theaetetus,  somewhere  in  the  introduction,  when  the 
ironical  querist  has  asked  that  intelligent  youth  whai 
science  is  ? 

"  I  cannot  say  that  I  do ;  for  though  I  have  read  that 
dialogue,  it  is  some  years  ago." 

"  Let  me  read  you  the  passage  then.  Here  it  is," 
said  Harrington,  reaching  down  the  dialogue  and  turn- 
ing to  the  place.  "  *  Tell  me  frankly,'  says  Socrates, 
'  what  do  you  think  science  is  ?  *  It  appears  to  me,'  says 
TheaBtetus,  '  that  such  things  as  one  may  learn  Irom 
Thsodorus  here,  —  namely,  geometry,  as  well  as  other 
things  which  you  have  just  enumerated ;  and  again, 
that  the  shoemaker's  art,  and  those  of  other  artisans,  — 
all  and  each  of  them  are  nothing  else  but  science.' 
'  You  are  munificent  indeed,'  said  Socrates  ;  '  for  when 
asked  for  one  thing,  you  have  given  many.^  I  almost 
think,"  continued  Harring  'on,   "  that,  if  Socrates  were 


248  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

here,  he  would  do  what  I  should  not  presume  to  do,  — 
banter  you  in  a  somewhat  similar  way.  He  would  say, 
that,  having  asked  what  a  miracle  was,  Mr.  Fellowes 
told  him  that  half  a  dozen  things  were  miracles,  but 
did  not  tell  him  what  every  miracle  was;  that  is,  never 
told  him  what  made  all  miracles  such.  Suffer  me 
again  to  ask  you  what  a  miracle  is  ?  " 

"  I  recollect  now  enough  of  the  charming  dialogue 
from  which  you  have  taken  occasion  to  twit  me,  to  an- 
swer you  in  the  same  vein.  As  it  turns  out,  Socrates 
appears  to  be  at  least  equally  ignorant  with  Thesetetus 
as  to  the  definition  of  which  he  is  in  search.  I  think  it 
may  be  as  well  for  me  to  do  at  once  what  certainly 
Thea3tetus  would  have  done,  had  he  known  that  his  re- 
prover was  as  much  in  the  dark  as  himself." 

"  What  is  that  ?  "  said  Harrington. 

"  He  would  have  cut  short  a  good  deal  of  banter  by 
at  once  turning  the  tables  upon  his  ironical  tormentor ; 
acknowledging  his  impotence,  and  making  him  give 
the  required  definition.    Come,  let  me  take  that  course." 

"  I  have  no  objection,  my  friend,  if  you  will  first,  as 
you  say,  acknowledge  your  impotence;  only  I  would 
not  advise  you,  for  in  that  case  you  would  be  obliged  to 
confess  that  you  have  resolved  with  me  that  a  miracle  is 
impossible,  and  yet  that  you  are  not  quite  sure  that  you 
can  tell,  or  rather  own  that  you  cannot,  what  a  miracle 
is.  Let  me  entreat  you  to  essay  some  definition ;  and 
if  you  break  down,  I  have  no  objection  to  take  my 
chance  of  the  honor  of  success  or  the  ignominy  of 
failure." 

"  The  fact  is,"  answered  Fellowes,  "  that,  like  many 
other  things,  it  is  better  understood " 

"  Than   described,  as  the  novelists  say,  when  they 

feel  that  their  powers  of  description  fail  them.     But 

his  will  hardly  di   for  us;   we  are  philosophers,  you 


MIRACLES.  249 

know,  (  save  the  mark !)  in  search  of  truth.  —  A  thing 
that  is  well  known  by  every  body^  and  is  capable  of  be- 
ing described  by  nobody^  would  be  almost  a  miracle  of 
itself;  and  I  think  it  imports  us  to  give  some  better 
account  of  the  matter.  I  can  see  that  my  orthodox 
uncle  there  is  already  secretly  amusing  himself  at  the 
anticipation  of  our  perplexities." 

I  took  no  notice  of  the  remark,  but  went  on  writing. 

"  Well,  then,  if  I  must  give  you  some  definition," 
said  Fellowes,  "  I  know  not  if  I  can  do  better  than 
avail  myself  of  the  usual  one,  that  it  is  a  suspension 
or  violation  of  a  law  of  nature.  ~Ts  not  that  ^he  ac- 
count which  Hume  gives  of  the  matter  ?  " 

"  I  think  it  is.  I  am  afraid,  however,  that  at  the  very 
outset  we  should  have  some  difficulty  in  determining 
one  of  the  phrases  used  in  this  very  definition,  —  name- 
ly, how  we  are  to  understand  a  lavj  of  nature.  I  do 
not  ask  whether  law  implies  a  lawgiver ;  you  will  as- 
sert it,  and  I  shall  not  gainsay  it :  it  is  at  present  im- 
material. But  do  you  not  mean  by  a  law  of  nature  (I 
am  asking  the  question  merely  to  ascertain  whether  or 
not  we  are  thinking  of  the  same  thing)  just  this;  —  the 
fact  that  similar  phenomena  uniformly  reappear  in  an 
observed  series  of  antecedents  and  consequents,  which 
series  is  invariable  so  far  as  ?(;e  know,  and  so  far  as  oth- 
ers know,  whose  experience  we  can  test  ?  Is  not  that 
what  you  mean  ?  You  do  not,  I  presume,  suppose  you 
know  any  thing  of  the  connection  which  binds  together 
causes  and  effects,  or  the  manner  in  which  the  secret 
bond  (if  there  be  any)  which  unites  antecedents  and 
consequents,  in  any  natural  phenomena,  is  main- 
tained?" 

"  I  certainly  make  no  such  pretensions ;  all  that  I 
mean  by  a  law  of  nature  is  just  what  you  have  men- 
tioned. I  shall  be  well  content  k  adhere  to  your  ex- 
planation," answered  Fellowes. 


250  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  So  that  when  we  observe  similar  phenomena  repro- 
duced in  the  aforesaid  series  of  antecedents  and  conse- 
quents, we  call  that  a  law  of  nature,  and  affirm  that  a 
violation  of  that  law  would  be  a  miracle,  and  impos- 
sible?" 

«  Certainly." 

"  And  further,  do  you  not  agree  with  me  that  such 
invariable  series  is  sufficiently  certified  to  us  by  our 
own  uniform  experience,  —  that  of  all  our  neighbors 
and  friends, —  and,  in  a  word,  that  of  all  whose  expe- 
rience we  can  test  ?  " 

"  I  agree  with  you." 

"  I  am  content,"  replied  Harrington ;  "  but  at  the 
outset  it  seems  to  me  that  the  expression  I  have  used 
requires  a  little  expansion  to  meet  the  sophistry  of  our 
opponents.  I  will  either  explain  myself  now,  and  then 
leave  you  to  j  udge  ;  or  I  will  say  no  more  of  the  mat- 
ter here,  but  pursue  our  discussion,  and  let  the  difficulty 
(if  there  be  one)  disclose  itself  in  the  course  of  it,  and 
be  provided  for  as  may  be  in  our  power." 

"  What  is  it  ?  " 

"  It  is  this ;  — that  it  cannot,  with  truth,  be  said,  in 
relation  to  many  phenomena,  that  (so  far  as  our  experi- 
ence informs  us)  they  do  follow  each  other  in  an  abso- 
lutely invariable  order ;  which  phenomena,  nevertheless, 
we  believe  to  be  as  much  under  the  dominion  of  law  as 
the  rest ;  and  any  violation  of  this  law,  I  presume,  you 
would  think  as  much  a  miracle  as  any  other.  For  ex- 
ample, we  do  not  find  the  same  remedies  or  the  same 
regimen  will  produce  the  same  effects  upon  different  in- 
dividuals at  different  times ;  again,  the  varieties  of  the 
weather,  in  every  climate,  are  dependent  upon  so  many 
causes,  that  it  transcends  all  human  skill  to  calculate 
them.  Yet  I  dare  say  you  can  easily  imagine  certain 
degrees  and  continuity  of  change  in  these  variable  phe- 


MIRACLES.     "     "      '  251 

nomena  which  you  would  not  hesitate  to  call  as  much 
miracles  as  if  the  dead  were  raised,  or  the  sun  stayed  in 
mid-heaven." 

"  Yes,  unquestionably,"  replied  Fellowes ;  "  if  I 
found,  for  instance,  that  a  dozen  men  could  take  an 
ounce  of  arsenic  or  half  a  pound  of  opium  with  impu- 
nity, I  should  not  hesitate  to  regard  it  as  a  miracle,  al- 
though the  precise  amount  sufficient  to  kill  in  any  par- 
ticular case  might  not  be  capable  of  being  ascertained. 
In  the  same  manner,  if  I  found  that  though  the  amount 
of  heat  and  cold  in  summer  and  winter  in  our  climate 
is  subject  to  marked  variations,  yet  that  suddenly  for 
several  consecutive  years  we  had  more  frost  in  July 
than  in  December ;  that  gooseberries  and  currants  were 
getting  ripe  on  Christmas  day,  and  men  were  skating 
on  the  Serpentine  on  the  10th  of  August,  I  should  cer- 
tainly argue  that  a  change  tantamount  to  a  miracle  had 
been  wrought  in  nature." 

"  You  have  just  expressed  my  own  feelings  on  that 
point,"  said  Harrington ;  "  and  it  was  this  very  consid- 
eration which  made  me  say,  that,  in  order  to  render  my 
expression  perfectly  clear,  and  to  obviate  misconception 
and  misrepresentation,  we  must  endeavor  to  include 
this  very  frequent  case  of  a  certain  limited  variation 
from  the  order  of  nature  as  consistent  with  the  absence 
of  miracle,  and  a  certain  degree  of  that  variation  as  in- 
consistent with  it." 

"  Will  you  just  state  our  criterion  once  more,  with 
the  limitation  attached ;  and  then  I  shall  know  better 
whether  we  are  certainly  agreed  in  the  criterion  we 
ought  to  employ  ?  " 

"  I  say,  then,"  resumed  Harrington,  "  that  our  uniform 
experience,  that  of  our  friends  and  neighbors,  and  of 
all  whose  experience  we  have  the  opportunity  of  test- 
ings as  to  the  order  of  nature,  —  meaning  by  that  either 


252  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

an  order  absolutely  invariable,  or  varying  only  within 
limits  which  are  themselves  absolutely  invariable,  — jus- 
tifies us  in  pronouncing  an  event  contradicting  such 
experience  to  be  an  impossibility.  If  the  principle  is 
worth  any  thing,  let  us  embrace  it,  and  inflexibly  ap- 
ply it." 

"  And  I,  for  one,"  replied  Fellowes,  "  am  quite  satis- 
fied with  the  principle  and  the  limitations  you  have 
laid  down ;  and  am  so  confident  of  its  correctness,  that 
I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  all  the  miraculous  histories 
on  record  are  to  be  summarily  rejected." 

"  For  example,"  said  Harrington,  "we  have  seen  the 
sun  rise  every  morning  and  set  every  evening  all  our 
lives ;  and  every  one  whose  experience  we  can  test  has 
seen  the  same.  Every  man  who  has  come  into  the 
world  has  come  into  it  but  one  way,  and  has  as  cer- 
tainly gone  out  of  it,  and  has  not  returned ;  and  every 
one  whose  experience  we  can  test  affirms  the  same. 
We  therefore  conclude  on  this  uniform  and  invariable 
experience,  that  the  same  sequences  took  place  yester- 
day and  the  day  before,  and  will  take  place  to-morrow 
and  the  day  after;  and  we  may  fearlessly  apply  this 
principle  both  to  the  past  and  the  future.  I  know  of 
no  other  reason  for  rejecting  a  miracle ;  and  if  I  am  to 
apply  the  principle  at  all  to  phenomena  which  have 
not  fallen  under  my  own  observation,  I  must  apply  it 
without  restriction." 

"  I  am  quite  of  your  mind." 

"  You  think,  with  me,  that  our  experience,  —  the  ex- 
perience of  those  about  us,  —  the  experience  of  all  whose 
experience  we  have  the  means  of  testing,  —  is  sufficient 
to  settle  the  question  as  to  the  experience  of  those 
whose  experience  we  have  not  the  means  of  testing ; 
who  lived,  for  example,  a  thousand  years  before  we 
were  born ;  or  in  a  distant  part  of  the  world,  where  we 
have  never  been  ?  " 


MIRACLES.  253 

"  Certainly ;  why  should  we  hesitate  so  to  app  y  it  ?  " 

"  I  am  sure  I  know  not ;  and  you  see  I  am  not  un- 
willing so  to  apply  it.  Only  I  asked  the  question,  be- 
cause we  must  not  forget  that  many  say  it  is  begging 
the  question  ;  for,  as  a  *  miracle  '  has  not  been  exerted 
on  us  to  give  us  a  vision  of  the  past  experience  of  man, 
or  his  present  experience  in  any  part  of  the  world  we 
never  visited,  our  opponents  afiirm,  that  to  say  that  the 
experience  we  trust  to  has  been  and  is  the  universal 
experience  of  man,  is  a  clear  pelitio  principiV^ 

"Surely,"  said  Fellowes,  "it  maybe  said  that  the 
general  experience  of  mankind  has  been  of  such  a  char- 
acter." 

"  Exactly  so,  as  a  postulate  from  our  experience,  as 
a  generalized  assumption  that  our  experience  may  be 
taken  as  a  specimen  and  criterion  of  all  experience. 
We  assume  that,  —  we  do  not  prove  it.  It  is  just  as 
in  any  other  case  of  induction ;  we  say,  *  Because  this 
is  true  in  twenty  or  thirty  or  a  hundred  instances  (as 
the  case  may  be),  which  we  can  test,  —  therefore  it  is 
generally  or  universally  true  ' ;  we  do  not  say,  because 
this  is  true  in  these  instances,  and  because  it  is  also 
generally  or  universally  true,  therefore  it  is  so  I  No ; 
our  true  premise  is  restricted  to  what  alone  we  know 
from  our  experience  and  the  experience  of  all  whose 
experience  we  can  test  if  we  please.  This  is  our  real 
ground  on  which  we  are  to  justify  our  rejection  of  all 
miracles,  and  let  us  adhere  to  it.  As  to  your  general 
experience,  you  see,  the  advocate  of  miracles  easily  gets 
over  that.  He  says,  '  Why,  no  one  pretends  that  mir- 
acles are  as  "  plenty  as  blackberries " ;  otherwise  they 
would  no  longer  be  miracles  ;  these  are  comparatively 
rare  events,  of  course ;  and,  being  rare,  are  necessarily 
at  variance  with  general  experience ' ;  and,  for  my  part, 
I  should  not  know  how  to  answer  the  objection." 

22 


254 


THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 


"  Well,  then,"  said  Fellowes,  "let  us  adhere  to  that 
which  is  our  real  ground  of  objection,  and  let  us  con- 
sistently apply  it." 

"  With  all  my  heart,"  said  Harrington ;  "  we  agree, 
then,  that  our  own  uniform  experience,  —  that  of  all 
our  neighbors  and  friends,  —  in  fact,  of  all  whose  ex- 
perience we  can  test,  is  a  sufficient  criterion  of  a  law 
of  nature,  and  justifies  us  in  at  once  rejecting  as  im- 
possible any  alleged  fact  which  violates  it." 

«  Certainly." 

"  For  example,  if  it  were  asserted  that  last  year  the 
sun  never  rose  on  a  certain  day,  or,  rather,  for  twenty-? 
four  hours  the  rotation  of  the  earth  ceased,  we  should 
Instantly  reject  the  story,  without  examination  of  wit- 
nesses, or  any  such  thing." 

«  No  doubt  of  thatP 
•    "  And  just  so   in   other   cases.     This,  then,  is   our 
ground.     You  would  not  (if  I  may  advise)  lay  much 
stress  on  the  fact  that  there  have  been  so  many  stories 
of  a  supernatural  kind  falseP 

"  Why,  I  do  not  know  whether  it  would  not  be  wise 
to  insist  upon  that  argument.  It  seems  to  be  not  with- 
out weight,"  urged  Fellowes. 

"  Perhaps  so,"  replied  Harrington ;  "  but  it  has,  you 
Bee,  this  inconvenience,  of  proving  more  than  you  want. 
The  greater  part  by  far  of  all  religions  have  been  false. 
But  you  affirm  that  there  is  one  little  system  absolutely 
true.  The  greater  part  of  the  theories  of  science  and 
philosophy,  which  men,  from  time  to  time,  have  framed, 
have  also  been  false  ;  and  yet  you  believe  that  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  true  philosophy  and  true  science.  Simi- 
larly, the  generality  of  political  governments  have  been 
founded  on  vicious  principles,  yet  you  hope  for  a  politi- 
cal millennium  at  last.  In  ghort^.tlifi_argument  would 
go  to  prove,  that,  as  there  can  never  have  been  any 


MIRACLES.  255 

true  miracles  because  there  have  been  so  many  false 
ones,  so,  for  similar  reasons,  it  is  mere  *  vanity  and 
vexation  of  spirit '  to  search  after  truth  in  religion,  or 
science,  or  politics ;  and  though  a  sceptic,  like  myself, 
might  not  much  mind  it,  perhaps  it  would  trammel 
such  a  positive  philosopher  as  you.  Nay,  a  pertinacious 
opponent  might  even  say,  that,  as  you  believe  that  in 
all  these  last  cases  there  is  a  substance,  else  there  would 
not  have  been  the  shadows,  so,  with  reference  to  mira- 
cles, the  very  general  belief  of  them  rather  argues  that 
there  have  been  miracles,  than  that  there  have  been 
none.  My  advice  is,  that  we  adhere  to  these  reasons 
we  have  assigned,  for  they  are  our  real  reasons." 

"  Be  it  so ;  I  hate  miracles  so  much,  that  I  care  not 
by  what  means  the  doltish  delusion  is  dissipated." 

"  Only  that  the  weapons  should  be  fair  ?  " 

"  O,  of  course." 

"  To  resume,  then.  I  say,  that,  if  we  were  told  that 
last  year  an  event  of  such  a  miraculous  nature  occurred 
as  that  the  earth  did  not  revolve  for  twenty-four  hours 
together,  we  should  at  once  reject  it,  without  any  ex- 
amination of  witnesses,  or  troubling  ourselves  with  any 
thing  of  the  kind." 

"  Unquestionably." 

"  And  if  it  were  said  to  have  occurred  twenty  years 
ago,  we  should  take  the  same  course." 

«  Certainly." 

"  And  so  if  any  such  event  were  said  to  have  oc- 
curred eighteen  hundred  years  ago  ?  " 

"  Agreed." 

"  And  if  such  events  were  said  at  that  day  to  have 
occurred  eighteen  hundred  years  previously,  we  believe, 
of  course,  the  men  of  that  time  would  have  been  equally 
entitled  to  reason  in  the  same  way  about  them  as  our- 
selves ;  and,  in  short,  that  rve  may  fearlessly  apply  the 
same  principle  to  the  same  epoch." 


256  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  Of  course"  '  --^ 

"  And  so  for  two  thousand  years  before  that ;  and? 
in  fact,  we  must  believe  that  every  thing  has  always 
been  going  on  in  the  same  manner,  —  the  sun  always 
rising  and  setting,  men  dying  and  never  rising  again, 
and  so  forth." 

"  Exactly  so,  even  from  the  beginning  of  the  crea- 
tion," said  Fellowes. 

"  The  beginning  of  the  creation  !  My  good  fellow, 
I  do  not  understand  you.  As  we  have  been  going 
back,  we  have  seen  that  there  is  no  period  at  which  the 
same  principle  of  judgment  will  not  apply,  and,  follow- 
ing it  fearlessly,  I  say  that  we  are  in  all  fairness  bound 
to  believe  that  there  never  has  been  a  period  when  the 
present  order  has  been  different  from  what  it  is ;  in 
other  words,  that  the  progression  has  been  an  eternal 
one." 

**  I  cannot  admit  that  argument,"  said  Fellowes. 
'  "  Then  be  pleased  to  provide  me  with  a  good  answer 
tb  it,  which  will  still  leave  us  at  liberty  to  say,  that  a 
miracle  (that  is,  a  variation  from  the  order  of  nature 
as  determined  by  our  uniform  experience,  and  by  that 
of  the  whole  circle  of  our  contemporaries)  is  impossi- 
ble, and  that  we  may  reject  at  once  any  pretension  of 
«e  kind." 

"  But  I  do  not  admit  that  the  creation  of  any  thing 
or  of  all  things  is  of  the  nature  of  a  miracle^ 

Harrington  smiled.  "  I  am  afraid,"  said  he,  "  that 
to  common  sense,  to  fair  reasoning,  to  any  philosopher 
worthy  of  the  name,  there  would  be  no  difference, 
except  in  mag'nitude,  between  such  an  event  as  the 
sudden  appearance  of  an  animal  (say  man)  for  the  j^r5^ 
time  in  our  world,  or  the^r^^  appearance  of  a  tree  (such 
a  thing  never  having  been  before),  and  the  restoration 
to  life  of  a  dead  man     Each  is,  to  all  intents  and  pur- 


MIRACLES.  257 

poses,  a  violation  of  the  previous  established  series  of 
antecedents  and  consequents,  and  comes  strictly  within 
the  limits  of  our  definition  of  a  miracle ;  and  a  miracle, 
you  know,  is  impossible.  The  only  difference  will  be, 
that  the  miracle  in  the  one  case  will  be  greater  and 
more  astonishing  than  that  in  the  other." 

"  But  it  is  impossible,  in  the  face  of  geologists,  to 
contend  that  there  have  not  been  many  such  revolutions 
In  the  history  of  the  world  as  these.  Man  himself  is  of 
comparatively  recent  introduction  into  our  system." 

"  I  cannot  help  what  the  geologists  affirm.  If  we 
are  to  abide  by  our  principle^  we  have  no  warrant  to 
believe  that  there  have  been  any  such  violations,  or  in- 
fractions, or  revolutions  of  nature's  laws  in  the  world's 
history.  If  they  contend  for  the  interpolation  of  events 
in  the  history  of  the  universe,  which,  by  our  criterion, 
are  of  the  nature  of  miracles,  and  we  are  convinced 
that  miracles  are  impossible,  we  must  reject  the  con- 
clusions of  geologists." 

"  But  may  we  not  say,  that  the  great  epochs  in  the 
history  of  the  universe  are  themselves  but  the  mani- 
festation of  law  ?  "  '^ 

"  In  no  other  sense,  I  think,  than  the  advocate  of  j 
miracles  is  entitled  to  say  that  the  intercalation  of  ' 
miracles  in  the  world's  history  is  also  according  to  law, 
—  parts,  though  minute  parts,  of  a  universal  plan,  and 
permitted  for  reasons  worthy  of  the  Creator.  To  both, 
or  neither,  is  the  same  answer  open.  Your  objection 
is,  I  think,  a  mere  sophistical  evasion  of  the  difficulty. 
There  is  no  difference  whatever  in  the  nature  of  the 
events,  except  that  the  variation  from  the  '  established 
series  of  sequences'  is  infinitely  greater  in  those  por- 
tentous revolutions  of  the  universe  to  which  the  geolo- 
gist points  your  attention.  The  application  of  our 
principle  (as  you  affirm  with  me)  will  justify  us  in  at 

22* 


258  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

once  pronouncing  any  variation  from  the  <  established 
series,'  whether  occurring  yesterday,  a  year  ago,  a 
thousand  years  ago,  or  a  million  of  years  ago,  incredi- 
ble ;  it  will,  in  the  same  manner,  justify  the  men  of  any 
age  in  saying  the  same  of  all  previous  ages ;  and  I, 
therefore,  while  contending  for  your  principle  with  you, 
carry  it  consistently  out,  and  affirm  that  the  established 
series  of  antecedents  and  consequents  (as  we  now  find 
it)  must  be  regarded  as  eternal^  because  creation  would 
do  what  a  miracle  is  supposed  to  do,  and  a  miracle, 
you  know,  is  impossible.     You  are  silent." 

"  I  am  not  able  to  retract  acquiescence  in  the  prin- 
ciple, and  I  am  as  little  inclined  to  concede  the  conclu- 
sions you  would  draw  from  it." 

"  As  you  please  ;  only,  in  the  latter  case,  provide  me 
with  an  answer.  If  you  saw  now  introduced  on  the 
earth  for  the  first  time  a  being  as  unlike  man  as  man 
is  unlike  the  other  animals,  —  say  with  seven  senses, 
wings  on  his  shoulders,  a  pair  of  eyes  behind  his  head 
as  well  as  in  front  of  it,  and  the  tail  of  a  peacock,  by 
way  of  finishing  him  off  handsomely,  —  would  you  not 
call  such  a  phenomenon  a  miracle  ?  " 

"  I  think  I  should,"  said  Fellowes,  laughing. 

"  And  if  the  creature  died,  leaving  no  issue,  would 
you  continue  to  call  it  so  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

**But  if  you  found  that  he  was  the  head  of  a  race, 
as  man  was,  and  a  whole  nation  of  such  monsters 
springing  from  him,  then  would  you  say  that  this  won- 
derful intrusion  into  the  sphere  of  our  experience  was 
no  miracle,  but  that  it  was  merely  according  to  law  ?  " 

"  I  should." 

"  Verily,  my  dear  friend,  I  am  afraid  the  world  will 
laugh  at  us  for  making  such  fantastical  distinctions. 
This  infraction  of    established  sequences '  ceases  to  be 


MIRACLES.  5  Tim?*"  259 

miraculous,  if  the  wonder  is  perpetuated  and  sufficiently 
TTultiplied !  Meantime,  what  becomes  of  the  prodigy 
during  the  tinie  in  which  it  is  uncertain  whether  any 
thing  will  come  of  it  or  not  ?  You  will  say,  I  suppose, 
(the  interpolation  in  the  *  series '  of  phenomena  being 
just  what  I  have  supposed,)  that  it  is  uncertain  whether 
it  is  to  be  regarded  as  miraculous  or  not,  till  we  knoia 
whether  it  is  to  be  repeated  or  noty 

"  I  think  I  must,  if  I  adhere  to  the  principle  I  am 
now  defending." 

"  Very  well ;  only  in  the  mean  time  you  are  in  the 
ludicrous  position  of  facing  a  phenomenon  of  which  you 
do  not  kfioio  whether  you  will  call  it  a  miracle  or  not,  — 
the  contingency,  meantime,  on  which  it  is  to  be  decid- 
ed, not  at  all,  as  I  contend,  affecting  the  matter  ;  since 
you  allow  that  it  is  the  infraction  of  the  previously 
established  order  of  sequences,  as  known  to  uniform 
experience,  which  constitutes  a  miracle !  If  so,  I  must 
maintain  that  the  creation  of  man  was,  for  the  same 
reasons,  of  the  essence  of  a  miracle.  You  seem  to  think 
there  is  no  objection  to  the  admission  of  miracles,  pro- 
vided they  are  astounding  and  numerous  enough;  or 
provided  they  are  a  long  time  about,  instead  of  being 
instantaneously  wrought.  I  must  remind  you,  that  to 
the  principle  of  our  argument  these  things  are  quite 
immaterial.  Whether  the  revolution  by  which  the 
established  order  of  sequences  is  absolutely  infringed, 
— -  the  face  of  the  universe  or  of  our  globe  transformed, 
or  an  entirely  new  race  (as,  for  example,  man)  origi- 
nated, —  I  say,  whether  such  change  be  produced  slow- 
ly or  quickly  is  of  no  consequence  in  the  world  to  our 
argument.  It  is  whether  or  not  a  series  of  phenomena 
be  produced  as  absolutely  transcending  the  sphere  of  all 
experience,  as  those  events  we  admit  to  be  impossible, 
called  *  miracles.'     That  the  introduction  of  man  upon 


260  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

the  earth  for  the  first  time  (for  you  will  not  allow  his 
race  eternal),  or  the  origination  of  a  sun,  is  not  at  all 
to  be  reckoned  as  transcending  that  experience,  I  can- 
not understand.  Nor  can  I  understand  it  a  bit  better 
by  your  saying  that  it  is  in  conformity  with  the  vague 
something  you  are  pleased  to  call  a  law.  It  is  a  very 
safe  phrase,  however ;  for  as  neither  you  nor  any  one 
else  can  interpret  it,  no  one  can  refute  you.  This  law 
is  a  most  convenient  thing !  It  repeals,  it  appears  to 
me,  all  other  laws,  —  even  those  of  logic.  Perhaps  it 
would  be  better  to  say  that  miracles  are  no  miracles 
when  they  are  '  lawful '  miracles.  No !  let  us  keep  our 
principle  intact  from  all  such  dangerous  admissions  as 
these.     In  that  way  only  are  we  safe." 

"  Safe  do  you  call  it  ?  I  see  not  how,  if  we  carry 
out  this  principle  in  the  way  and  to  the  extent  you  pro- 
pose, we  can  reply  to  the  atheist  or  to  the  pantheist,  ^ 
who  tells  us  that  the  universe  is  but  an  eternal  evolu- 
tion of  phenomena  in  one  infinite  series,  or  in  an  eternal 
recurrence  of  finite  cycles." 

"  And  what  is  that  to  you  or  me  ?  How  can  we  help 
our  principle  (if  we  are  to  hold  it  at  all)  leading  to  some 
such  conclusion  ?  We  are,  I  presume,  anxious  to  know 
the  truth.  You  see  that  Strauss,  who  is  the  most  stren- 
uous assertor  of  the  impossibility  of  miracles,  is  also  a 
pantheist,  I  know  not  whether  you  may  not  become 
one  yourself." 

"  Never,"  said  Fellowes,  vehemently ;  "  never,  I  trust, 
shall  I  yield  to  that '  desolating  pantheism '  (as  worthy 
Mr.  Newman  calls  it)  which  is  now  so  rife." 

"  I  think  Mr.  Newman's  principles  ought  to  guide 
you  thither.  You  seem  to  hold  fast  by  his  skirts  at 
present ;  but  I  very  much  doubt  whether  you  have  yet 
reached  the  termination  of  your  career.  You  have,  you 
must  admit,  made  advances  quite  as  extraordinary 
before." 


MIRACLES.  261 

"We  shall  see. —  But  I  suppose  you  have  reached 
the  end  of  the  objections  which  your  wayward  scepti- 
cism suggests  against  a  conclusion  which  we  both  ad- 
mit ;  or  have  you  any  more  ?  " 

"  Oj  plenty ;  and  amongst  the  rest,  I  am  afraid  we 
must  admit  —  whether  we  admit  or  not  your  expedient 
of  law — a  miracle,  or  something  indistinguishable 
from  it,  as  involved  in  the  creation  and  preservation  of 
the^r5^  man,  —  since  you  will  have  a  first  man." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  " 

"  I  mean,  that  supposing  the  creation  of  man  to  be 
no  miracle,  because  he  entered  by  law;  or  that  that 
first  fact  (which  would  otherwise  be  miraculous)  is  not 
such,  simply  because  it  is  the  first  of  a  series  of  such 
facts,  —  I  should  like  to  see  whether  we  have  not  even 
then  to  deal  with  a  miracle,  or  a  fact  as  absolutely 
unique ;  and  which  was  not  connected  with  any  series 
of  similar  facts." 

"  I  think  you  would  find  it  very  hard  to  prove  it." 

"  Nous  verrons.  I  am  sure  we  shall  not  disagree  as 
to  the  fact  that  man,  however  he  came  into  the  world, 
sooner  or  later,  by  ordinary  or  extraordinary  methods, 
by  some  lawful  wedlock  of  nature,  or  by  some  miracle 
which  is  not '  lawful,'  is  endow^ed  by  nature  with  vari- 
ous faculties  and  susceptibilities." 

"  Certainly,"  said  Fellowes,  laughing ;  "  if  you  de- 
mand my  assent  to  nothing  more  than  that,  I  shall 
easily  admit  your  premises  and  deny  your  conclusion." 

"  You  will  also  admit,  I  think,  that  the  process  by 
which  man  comes  to  the  use  of  these  faculties,  and 
powers,  and  so  fortK,  is  very  gradual  ?  " 

"  Assuredly." 

"  And  will  you  not  also  admit  that  the  development 
and  command  of  these  is  something  very  different  from 
the  *  potentialities '  themselves,  as  my  uncle  here  would 


262  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

call  thtm  ?  — that,  for  example,  we  have  the  faculty  of 
vision ;  but  that  the  art  of  seeing  involves  a  slow  and 
laborious  process,  acquired  not  without  the  concurrent 
exercise  of  other  senses :  and  that  the  apparatus  for 
walking  is  perfect  even  in  an  infant ;  but  that  the  art  of 
walking  is,  in  fact,  a  wonderful  acquisition :  further, 
that  the  command  given  us  by  these  faculties,  as  actu- 
ally exercised,  is  immensely  greater  than  would  be  con- 
ferred by  each  alone.  In  one  word,  you  will  allow  that 
man,  when  he  comes  to  the  use  of  his  faculties,  is,  as 
has  been  well  said,  a  bundle  of  habits^  or,  as  Burke  puts 
it,  is  a  creature  who,  to  a  great  extent,  has  the  making 
of  himself." 

"  I  am  much  at  my  ease,"  said  Fellowes ;  "  I  shall 
not  dispute  any  of  these  premises  either." 

"  And  will  you  not  also  admit  that,  as  man  comes 
into  the  world  now^  a  long  time  is  required  for  this  de- 
velopment ;  and  that  during  that  time  he  is  absolutely 
dependent  on  the  care  of  those  who  have  already  in  their 
turn  required  similar  care  ?  " 

'•  Seeing  that  we  have  had  fathers  and  mothers,  —  as  I 
suppose  our  grandfathers  and  grandmothers  also  had,  — 
there  can  be  as  little  doubt  of  this  as  of  the  preceding 
points,"  said  Fellowes,  rather  condescendingly. 

"  And  that  many  of  the  functions  which  thus  task 
their  care  are  necessary  for  our  existence,  and  for  any 
chance  of  our  being  able  to  develop  into  menP 

"  I  think  so,  of  course." 

"  So  that,  if  an  infant  were  exposed  on  a  mountain- 
side or  forest,  you  would  have  no  doubt  he  would  perish 
(unless  it  pleased  some  kind-hearted  wolf  to  suckle 
him)  before  he  could  come  to  the  use  of  his  faculties, 
and  develop  them  by  exercise." 

"  I  think,"  said  the  other,  "  your  premises  perfectly 
innocent ;  I  shall  not  contest  them." 


MIRACLES.  263 

"  A  little  further,"  said  Harrington,  "  we  may  go  to- 
gether ;  and  then,  if  I  mistake  not,  you  will  pause  be- 
fore you  go  one  step  further.  This,  then,  is  the  normal 
condition  of  humanity  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Do  you  think  the  first  man  was  like  us  in  these 
respects  ?  " 

"  I  cannot  tell." 

"I  dare  engage  you  cannot, — it  is  a  very  natural 
answer.  But  he  either  was^  I  suppose,  or  was  not. 
That,  I  think,  you  will  grant  me."  He  assented,  though 
rather  reluctantly. 

"  Pray  please  yourself,"  said  Harrington ;  "  for  it  is 
quite  immaterial  to  me  which  alternative  you  take.  If 
man  tuas  in  our  condition,  then,  though  the  *  lawful 
miracle '  by  which  he  was  brought  into  the  world  might 
have  made  him  a  baby  of  six  feet  high,  he  would  have 
been  no  more  than  a  baby  still.  All  that  was  to  consti- 
tute him  a  man^  —  all  those  habits  by  which  alone  his 
existence  was  capable  of  being  preserved,  —  and  without 
which  he  must  have  perished  immediately  after  his 
creation,  in  which  case  you  and  I  should  have  been 
spared  the  necessity  of  all  this  discussion  on  the  subject, 
—  would  have  to  be  learned  ;  and  his  existence  during 
that  time  —  and  a  long  time  it  must  have  been,  having 
no  teachers  and  aids,  as  we  have — must  have  been 
preserved  by  a — miracle.  If  he  were  taught  by  the 
Creator  himself,  then  we  have  the  miracle  in  that  direc- 
tion. If  he  were  not  brought  into  the  w^orld  under  the 
same  conditions  of  development  as  we  are,  but  with 
habits  ready  made^  —  if,  indeed,  that  be  not  a  contra- 
diction,—  then  we  have  a  miracle  in  that  direction  ;  if 
he  had  his  faculties  'preternaturally  quickened  and  ex- 
panded, so  as  to  acquire  instantaneously,  or  possess  by 
instinct,  what  we  acquire  by  a  long  and  slow  process, 


264  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

and  not  for  many  years,  —  then  we  have  a  miracle  in 
that  direction.  If  you  do  not  like  these  suppositions, 
I  see  but  one  other ;  and  that  is,  that,  being  a  baby,  — 
though,  as  I  said,  a  baby  six  feet  high,  —  he  had  an  an- 
gel nurse  sent  down  expressly  to  attend  him,  and  to 
push  or  wheel  him  about  the  walls  of  paradise  in  a 
celestial  go-cart.  But  then  I  think  that  in  this  last 
particular  we  shall  hardly  say  that  we  have  got  rid  of 
a  miracle,  though  it  would  doubtless  be  a  miracle  of  a 
very  ludicrous  kind.  If  you  can  imagine  any  other 
supposition,  I  shall  be  glad  to  hear  it." 

"  I  acknowledge  I  can  form  no  supposition  on  the 
subject." 

"  Only  remember  that,  if  you  could,  the  theory  would 
still  suppose  man's  actual  preservation  and  develop- 
ment effected  under  totally  different  conditions  from 
those  which  have  formed  the  uniform  experience  of  all 
his  posterity ;  and  so  far  from  any  subterfuge  of  a  law 
stepping  in,  it  is  a  single  expedient  provided  for  our 
first  parent  alone." 

"  I  do  not  think  we  are  at  all  in  a  condition  to  con- 
sider any  such  case,  about  which  we  cannot  know  any 
thing,"  replied  Fellowes. 

"  Neither  do  /;  but  pardon  me,  —  the  question  1 
asked  does  not  depend  upon  any  such  knowledge ;  it  is 
a  question  which  is  wholly  independent  whether  of  our 
ignorance  or  our  knowledge.  Granting,  as  you  do,  that 
man  was  created^  but  that  it  was  no  miracle,  nor  any 
thing  analogous  to  one  (as  you  say),  still  either  he  was 
created  subject  to  our  conditions  of  development  and 
preservation,  or  he  was  not ;  if  he  was  not,  then  I  fear 
we  have  in  form  the  miracle  we  wish  to  evade ;  if  he 
was,  then  I  fear  also  that  there  are  but  the  three  imagi- 
nable modes  of  obviating  the  difficulty  which  I  have 
so  liberally  provided ;  and  supposing  there  were  a  thou- 


MIRACLES.  '-SfiS 

sand,  I  fear  still  that  they  all  involve  a  departure  from 
the  *  uniform  course  of  nature.'  " 

"  But  I  do  not  see,"  replied  Fellowes,  "  that  it  is 
absolutely  necessary,  supposing  that  the  first  man  was 
thrown  upon  the  green  of  paradise " 

"  Or  in  a  forest,  or  on  a  moor,"  said  Harrington,  "  for 
you  know  nothing  of  paradise." 

"  "Well,  then,  in  a  forest,  or  on  a  moor ;  —  I  say  if  man 
were  cast  out  there,  the  same  helpless  being  which  all 
his  posterity  are,  —  unfortified,  as  the  lower  animals  are, 
by  feathers  or  hair,  or  by  instincts  equal  to  theirs, — 
who  can  affirm  that  it  was  beyond  the  possibilities  of 
his  nature,  that  he  might  survive  this  cruel  experiment? 
crawl,  perhaps,  for  an  indefinite  period  on  all  fours? 
live  on  berries,  and  at  last  —  by  very  slow  degrees 
doubtless,  but  still  at  last  —  emerge  into " 

"  The  dignity  of  a  savage,"  cried  Harrington,  "  as 
the  Jirst  step  towards  something  better,  —  his  Creator 
having  beneficently  created  him  something  infinitely 
worse!  Surely,  you  must  be  returning  to  a  savage 
yourself,  even  to  hint  at  such  a  pedigree.  But  I  have 
done :  till  those  cases  of  which  certain  philosophers 
have  said  so  much  have  been  authenticated ;  till  you 
can  produce  an  instance  of  a  new-born  babe,  exposed 
on  a  mountain-side,  in  all  the  helplessness  of  his  natal 
hour,  and  self- preserved,  —  nay,  two  of  them, —  for  you 
must  at  least  have  a  pair  of  these  '  babes  in  the  wood ' ; 
and  till,  moreover,  it  can  be  shown  that  they  would 
have  survived  this  experiment  so  as  to  preserve  the 
characteristics  of  humanity  a  little  better  than  the  '  wild 
boy  of  Germany,'  and  were  fit  to  be  the  heads  of  the 
human  family,  —  I  shall  at  times  be  strangely  tempted 
to  embrace  an?/  theory  as  infinitely  more  probable.  I 
cannot  think  it  was  in  this  way  that  our  first  parents 
made  their  entree  into  the  world.     I  hope  not,  for  the 

23 


266  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

credit  of  the  Creator,  as  well  as  for  the  happiness  of  his 
offspring.  Of  the  moral  bearings  of  such  a  brutal  theory, 
I  say  nothing  ;  but  if  it  can  be  true,  all  I  can  say  is,  that 
I  am  glad  that  you  and  I,  my  dear  Fellowes,  are  not 
the  immediate  children^  but  so  fortunate  as  to  be  only 
the  great-great-great-great-grandchildren  of  God  !  You 
have  well  called  it  a  '  cruel  experiment ' ;  according  to 
this,  the  first  Father  of  all  thrust  forth  his  children  into 
the  world  to  be  for  an  indefinite  time  worse  than  the 
beasts,  who  were  carefully  provided  against  miserable 
man's  inconveniences !  Certainly,  I  think  you  may 
alter  the  account  of  man's  creation  given  in  Genesis,  to 
great  advantage.  Instead  of  God's  saying,  '  Let  us 
create  man  in  our  image,  he  must  be  supposed  to  have 
said,  '  Let  us  create  man  in  the  image  of  a  beast  :  and 
in  the  image  of  a  beast  created  he  him,  male  and  fe- 
male created  he  them ' ;  and  very  imperfect  beasts  they 
must  have  been,  after  all.  This  is  that  old  savage  the- 
ory which  I  had  supposed  was  pretty  well  abandoned. 
If  the  necessity  of  denying  miracles  imposes  any  ne- 
cessity of  believing  that^  I  fear  that  I  shall  sooner  be  got 
to  believe  a  thousand." 

"  Well,"  said  Fellowes,  who  seemed  ashamed  of  this 
theory,  but  knew  not  how  to  abandon  it ;  "I  cannot 
believe  there  have  been  any  miracles^  and,  what  is  more, 
I  will  not." 

"  That  is  perhaps  the  best  reason  you  have  given 
yet,"  said  Harrington.  "  The  Will  is  indeed  your  only 
irresistible  logician.  You  are  one  degree,  at  all  events, 
better  off  than  I,  for  I  can  hardly  say  either  that  I  be- 
lieve, or  that  I  do  not  believe,  in  miracles." 

"  And  yet,"  continued  Harrington,  after  a  pause, 
"two  or  three  other  strange  consequences  seem  to 
follow  from  that  seemingly  undeniable  principle  on 
which  we  base  the  conclusion  that  there  neither  has 


MIRACLES.  267 

been  nor  can  be  any  such  thing  as  a  miracle ;  in  other 
words,  a  departure  from  the  established  series  of  se- 
quences which,  as  tested  by  our  own  experience  and  by 
that  of  other  men,  we  are  convinced  is  stable.  Will  you 
see  with  me  whether  there  is  any  fair  mode  of  escaping 
from  them  ?     I  should  be  very  glad  if  I  could  do  so." 

"  What  are  they  ?  " 

"  Why,  first,  I  am  afraid  it  must  be  said,  that  we 
must  entirely  justify  a  man  in  the  condition  of  the 
Eastern  prince  mentioned  by  Hume,  who  could  not  be 
induced  to  believe  that  there  was  such  a  thing  as  ice. 
I  am  afraid  that  he  was  quite  in  the  right ;  and  yet  we 
know  that  in  fact  he  was  wrong." 

"  You  are  not,  then,  satisfied  with  Hume's  own 
solution  ?  " 

"  So  far  from  it,  that  I  cannot  see,  upon  the  principles 
on  which  we  refuse  to  believe  miracles,  that  it  is  even 
intelligible.  We  agree,  do  we  not,  that,  from  the  expe- 
ifience  we  have  (and,  so  far  as  we  can  ascertain,  from 
every  body  else's)  of  the  uniform  course  of  events,  of 
the  established  order  of  sequences,  we  are  to  reject  any 
assertion  of  a  violation  of  those  sequences  ;  as,  for  ex- 
ample, of  a  man's  coming  into  the  world  in  any  preter- 
natural manner,  or,  when  he  has  once  gone  out  of  it, 
coming  into  it  again  ;  and  that  we  are  entitled  to  do  this 
without  any  examination  of  the  witnesses  to  any  such 
fact,  merely  on  the  strength  of  the  principles  aforesaid  ?  " 

"  I  admit  that  we  have  agreed  to  this." 

"  Now  was  not  the  assertion  that  in  a  certain  quarter 
of  the  world  water  became  solid  as  stone,  could  be  cut 
into  pieces,  and  be  put  into  one's  pockets,  contrary,  in  a 
similar  manner,  to  all  the  phenomena  which  the  said 
prince  had  witnessed,  and  also  to  the  uniform  experience 
of  all  about  him  from  his  earliest  years  ?  " 

"  P  certainly  was." 


268  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  He  was  rights  then,  in  rejecting  the  fact;  that  is,  he 
was  right  in  rejecting  the  possibility  of  such  an  occur 
rence,"  said  Harrington. 

"  But  did  we  not  ourselves  say,  with  Hume,  that,  as 
we  see  that  there  is  not  an  absolute  uniformity  in  the 
phenomena  of  nature,  but  that  they  are  varied  within 
certain  limits  in  different  climates  and  countries,  so  it 
does  not  become  us  to  say  that  a  phenomenon,  though 
somewhat  variable,  is  a  violation  of  the  usual  order  of 
sequences  ?  " 

"  "We  did ;  but  we  also  agreed,  I  think,  that  those 
variations  were  to  be  within  invariable  limits,  as  tested 
by  the  whole  of  our  experience ;  we  did  not  include 
within  those  variations  what  is  diametrically  contrary 
(as  in  the  present  case)  to  all  our  own  experience  and 
that  of  every  body  about  us.  If  it  is  to  extend  to  such 
variations,  what  do  we  say  but  this,  —  that  the  order  of 
nature  is  uniform  and  invariable,  except  where  —  it  is 
the  reverse  ?  and,  as  it  seems  it  sometimes  is  so,  see 
what  comes  of  the  admission.  A  man  asserts  the  re- 
ality of  a  miracle  which  you  reject  at  once  as  simply 
impossible,  as  contrary  to  your  experience  and  that 
of  every  one  whose  experience  you  can  test.  It  will 
be  easy  for  him  to  say,  and  upon  Hume's  evasion  he 
will  say,  that  it  was  performed,  for  aught  you  know, 
under  conditions  so  totally  different  from  those  which 
ordinarily  obtain  in  relation  to  the  same  order  of  events, 
that  you  are  no  adequate  judge  as  to  whether  it  was 
possible  or  not.  He  acknowledges  that  a  miracle  is  a 
very  rare  Dccurrence ;  that  it  is  performed  for  special 
ends ;  is  strictly  limited  to  time  and  place,  like  those 
phenomena  the  Indian  prince  was  asked  to  believe ;  and 
that  your  experience  cannot  embrace  it,  nor  is  war- 
ranted in  pronouncing  upon  it.  I  really  fear  that,  if 
our  incredulous  prince  is  to  be  condemned,  our  principle 


MIRACLES.  269 

will  be  ruined.  I  am  anxious  for  his  safe  deliverance, 
I  assure  you." 

"  Still  1  cannot  see  that  we  can  deny  that  phenom- 
ena viay  be  manifested,  in  virtue  of  the  laws  of  nature, 
totally  different  from  those  which  we  have  ever  seen 
or  heard  of." 

"  What !  so  different  that  the  phenomena  in  question 
shall  be  a  total  departure  from  that  order  of  nature  of 
which  alone  we  and  all  about  us  are  cognizant ;  in  fact, 
all  but  the  one  man,  who  tells  us  the  strange  thing,  we 
being  at  the  same  time  totally  incapable  of  testing  his 
experience  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Fellowes  ;  "  I  must  grant  it." 

"  I  see,"  said  Harrington,  "  you  are  bent  on  the  de- 
struction of  our  criterion.  Do  you  not  perceive  that,  if 
our  experience  and  that  of  the  immense  majority,  or  of 
all  about  us,  be  not  a  sufficient  criterion  of  the  laws  of 
nature,  our  argument  falls  to  the  ground  ?  '  Your  prin- 
ciple,' our  adversaries  will  say,  '  is  a  fallacious  one ; 
Nature  has  her  laws,  no  doubt,  which  apply  to  miracles 
as  to  every  other  phenomenon ;  but  in  assuming  your 
experience  to  be  a  sufficient  criterion  of  these  laws,  you 
have  been,  not  interpreting  her  laws,  but  imposing  upon 
her  your  own.'  If  unknown  powers  of  nature  may  thus 
reverse  our  experience  and  the  experience  of  all  those 
whose  experience,  under  the  given  conditions,  we  have 
opportunities  of  testing,  we  ought  to  abstain  from  say- 
ing that  some  unknown  powers  may  not  also  have 
WTought  miracles.  Let  us  thv.n  affirm  consistently  the 
sufficiency  of  our  criterion ;  and  the  prince  aforesaid 
must  do  the  same  ;  and  it  warranted  him,  I  say,  in  be- 
lieving that  there  neither  was  nor  could  be  such  a  thing 
as  ice." 

"  But  this  seems  ridiculous,"  said  Fellowes ;  "  for 
according   to   this,  different   and   opposite  experiences 

28* 


270  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

may,  in  different  places  give  different  or  opposite  meas- 
ures of  the  laws  of  nature ;  which  nevertheless  are  sup- 
posed to  be  invariably  the  same,  or  invariably  within 
the  limits  certified  by  that  experience." 

"  I  cannot  help  it ;  upon  that  same  experience  we 
must  believe  it  true  that  there  are  no  miracles,  and  our 
unbelieving  prince,  that  there  could  be  no  such  thing  as 
ice ;  for  to  him  it  was  a  miracle.  If  we  do  not  reason 
thus,  may  we  not  be  compelled  to  admit  that  our  uni- 
form experience,  with  its  limited  variations,  is  no  rule 
at  all,  and  that  there  are  cases  for  which  it  makes  no 
provision  ?  and  may  not  the  advocate  for  miracles  say 
that  miracles  are  amongst  them  ?  No,  let  us  adhere  to 
our  principle^  and  adhering  to  it,  I  wish  to  know  whether 
the  prince  in  question  was  not  quite  right  in  saying  that 
there  neither  was  nor  could  be  such  a  thing  as  ice ;  for 
the  assertion  that  there  was,  was  contrary  to  all  his  ex- 
perience and  to  that  of  every  soul  about  him." 

"  I  must  say,  that,  if  we  look  only  to  the  principle  of 
this  uniform  experience,  he  was  rights 

"  But  he  rejected  the  iruth.''^ 

*  He  certainly  did." 
•  '  "  And  he  was  right  in  rejecting  the  truth  ?  " 

"  Certainly,  upon  your  principle." 
-— **  Upon  my  principle  !  Do  not  say  upon  my  princi- 
ple, unless  you  mean  to  deny  that  you  too  embrace  it; 
if  you  give  up  that  principle,  you  lay  yourself  open  at 
once  to  the  retort  that  your  position  is  insecure ;  that 
you  have  taken  your  experience  as  a  sufficient  criterion 
of  the  possibilities  of  events,  when  it  is  in  fact  merely 
a  measure  of  such  as  have  fallen  under  your  own  ob- 
servation." 

"  Perhaps,"  said  Fellowes,  "  I  should  say  that  the 
prince  in  question  was  justified  at  first  in  rejecting  the 
fact,  bu^;  that  when  he  found  other  men,  whose  veracity 


''*>'r         MIRACLES.-^  :a:r  271 

he  could  not  suspect,  coming  from  the  same  regions  of 
the  worl  1,  and  affirming  the  same  phenomenon,  it  was 
his  business  to  correct  his  experience,  and  to  admit  that 
the  fact  was  so." 

"  I  am  surprised  to  hear  you  say  so  ;  you  are  again 
ruining  our  principle.  Do  you  admit  that  the  assertion 
that  there  was  a  place  on  earth  at  which  water  in  large 
quantities  became  solid,  was  apparently  as  great  a  vio- 
lation of  all  the  experience  of  this  man,  as  what  is  ordi- 
narily called  a  miracle  is  of  ours  ?  " 

"  I  cannot  deny  that  it  was  so." 

"  But  yet  you  think,  that,  though  justified  in  dis- 
believing it  at  first,,  he  would  not  be  so  when  others, 
whose  veracity  and  motives  he  had  no  reason  to  sus- 
pect, told  him  the  same  tale  ?  " 

«  Yes." 

"  Why,  then,  is  not  this  plainly  to  make  a  belief  of 
such  events  depend  upon  testimony^  and  do  we  not  give 
up  altogether  our  sufficient  principle  of  rejection  of  all 
such  testimony  ?  You  are  yielding,  without  doubt,  the 
principle  of  our  opponents,  who  affirm  that  there  is  no 
event  so  improbable  that  a  certain  combination  of  testi- 
mony would  not  be  sufficient  to  warrant  your  reception 
of  it;  because,  as  they  say,  that  testimony  might  be 
given  under  such  circumstances,  —  so  variously  certi- 
fied, and  so  above  suspicion,  —  that  it  would  be  more 
improbable  that  the  statement  to  which  it  applied 
(however  strange)  should  be  false,  than  that  the  testi- 
mony should  ^not  be  true;  in  other  words,  that  the 
falsehood  of  the  testimony  would  be  the  greater  miracle  ^ 
of  the  two.  And  they  say  this,  because  (as  they  assert) 
the  uniform  experience  on  which  we  found  our  objec- 
tion to  any  miraculous  narrative  is  no  less  applicable 
to  the  world  of  mind  than  to  the  world  of  matter ;  that 
there  is  not  inaeed  an  absolute  uniformity  of  experience  / 


272  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

in  the  former,  as  neither  is  there  in  the  latter;  but  that 
neither  in  one  nor  in  the  other  is  there  any  absolute 
bouleversement  of  the  principles  and  constitution  of  na- 
ture ;  which,  they  say,  would  be  implied,  if  under  all 
conceivable  circumstances  testimony  might  prove  false. 
And  yet  now  you  seem  to  admit  the  very  thing  for 
which  they  contend  ;  and  in  contending  for  it,  you  give 
up  your  case.  Doing  so,  you  certainly  get  rid  of  one 
of  the  paradoxical  conclusions  which  my  wretched  scep- 
ticism sometimes  suggests  to  me,  as  throwing  a  doubt 
on  the  integrity  of  our  principle.  I  say  your  admission 
gets  rid  of  it ;  but  then  it  is  with  the  ruin  of  the  prin- 
ciple itself." 

"  What  was  that  paradox  ?  " 

"  It  is  this ;  that,  if  we  adhere  to  our  principle,  we 
must  deny  that  ani/  amount  of  testimony  is  sufficient 
to  warrant  the  belief  of  a  miracle." 

"  That  is  what  we  do  maintain." 

"  I  thought  so ;  but  you  seem  to  me  to  have  hastily 
given  it  up.  Let  us  then  again  maintain  that  our 
prince,  in  denying  what  was  a  miracle  to  him,  was  not 
only  consistent  in  saying  that  it  could  not  be,  when 
Jlrst  asserted  to  him,  but  also  wfaen  last  asserted ;  and 
died  an  orthodox  infidel  in  the  possibility  of  ice,  or  an 
orthodox  believer  in  the  eternal  fluidity  of  water,  which- 
ever you  prefer  to  consider  it." 

"  Well,  and  what  then?" 

"  Why,  then,  let  us  act  upon  our  principle  with  equal 
consistency  in  other  cases ;  for  you  say  that  there  is  no 
amount  or  complexity  of  evidence  which  would  induce 
you  to  believe  in  a  miracle." 

«  I  do." 

"  Let  us  suppose  it  was  asserted  that  a  man  known 
to  have  been  dead  and  buried  had  risen  again,  and, 
after  having  been  seen  by  many,  had  at  last^  in  the 


•^?^*  "miracles.  273 

pre3ence*6f  a  multitude,  on  a  clear  day,  ascended  to 
heaven  through  the  calm  sky,  without  artificial  wings 
or  balloon,  or  any  such  thing;  that  he  was  seen  to  pass 
out  of  sight  of  the  gazing  crowd,  who  watched  and 
watched  in  vain  for  his  return  ;  and  that  he  had  never 
more  been  seen.  Let  us  suppose  that  the  witnesses 
who  saw  this  constantly  affirmed  it ;  that  amongst 
them  were  many  known  to  you,  whose  veracity  you 
had  no  reason  to  suspect,  and  who  had  no  imaginable 
motive  to  deceive  you  ;  let  us  suppose  further,  that  they 
persisted  in  affirming  this,  in  spite  of  all  contumely 
and  contempt,  insult  and  wrong,  amidst  threats  of 
persecution,  and  persecution  itself;  lastly,  let  there  be 
amongst  them  many,  who  before  this  event  had  been 
as  strenuous  assertors  of  the  impossibility  of  a  miracle 
as  yourself.  I  want  to  know  whether  you  would  be- 
lieve this  story,  thus  authenticated,  or  not  ?  " 

"  But  it  is,  I  think,  unfair  to  put  any  such  case  ;  for 
there  never  was  such  an  event  so  authenticated." 

"  It  is  quite  sufficient  to  test  our  principle^  that  you 
can  imagine  such  testimony.  If  that  principle  is  sound, 
it  is  plain  that  it  will  apply  to  all  imaginable  degrees  of 
testimony,  as  well  as  to  all  actual  No  testimony^  you 
say,  can  establish  a  miracle.  This  is  true  or  not.  If 
you  admit  that  there  are  any  degrees  in  this  matter,  you 
come  at  last  to  the  old  argument,  which  you  abjure ; 
namely,  that  whether  a  miraculous  event  has  taken 
place  or  not  depends  on  the  degree  of  evidence  with 
which  it  is  substantiated,  and  that  must  be  the  result 
of  a  certain  investigation  of  it  in  the  particular  alleged 
case.  You  remember  the  story  of  the  ring  of  Gyges, 
which  made  the  wearer  invisible.  Plato  tells  us  how  a 
man  ought  to  act,  and  how  a  good  man  would  act,  if  he 
had  such  a  ring.  Cicero  tells  us  how  absurd  it  would 
be  to  reply  to  his  reasoning  (as  one  did),  by  saying  that 


274  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

there  never -was  such  a  ring.  It  was  not  necessary  to 
the  force  of  the  illustration,  that  there  should  be  such  a 
ring.  So  neither  is  it  necessary  to  my  argument  that 
there  should  be  such  testimony  as  I  have  supposed,  to 
enable  us  to  see  whether  we  are  prepared  to  admit  the 
truth  of  your  principle  that  no  evidence  can  establish  a 
miracle.  Once  more,  then,  I  ask  you  whether,  on  the 
supposition  of  such  testimony,  you  would  reject  the 
supposed  fact  or  not  ?  " 

"  Well,  then,  I  should  say,  that,  since  no  testimony 
can  establish  a  miracle,  I  should  reject  it." 

"  Bravo,  Fellowes !  I  do  of  all  things  like  to  see 
an  unflinching  regard  to  a  principle,  when  once  laid 
down.^' 

'•'  But  would  not  you  also  reject  it,  upon  the  same 
principle  ?  " 

"Of  course  I  should,  if  the  principle  be  true  ;  but  ah ! 
my  friend,  pardon  me  for  acknowledging  my  infirmi- 
ties ;  my  miserable  scepticism  tosses  me  to  and  fro.  I 
have  not  your  strength  of  will ;  and  I  fear  that  the  re- 
jection in  such  a  case  would  cost  me  many  qualms  and 
doubts.  Such  is  the  infirmity  of  our  nature,  and  so 
much  may  be  said  on  all  sides!  And  I  fear  that  I 
should  be  more  likely  to  have  these  uneasy  thoughts, 
inasmuch  as  I  fancy  I  see  a  difficult  dilemma  (I  but 
now  referred  to  it),  which  would  be  proposed  to  us  by 
some  keen-sighted  opponent,  —  I  say  not  with  jus- 
tice,—  who  would  endeavor  to  show  that  we  had 
abandoned  our  principle  in  the  very  attempt  to  main- 
tain it ;  that  the  bow  from  which  we  were  about  to 
launch  so  fatal  an  arrow  at  the  enemy  had  broken  in 
our  hands,  and  left  us  defenceless." 

"  What  dilemma  do  you  refer  to  ?  "  said  Fellowes. 

"  I  think  such  an  adversary  might  perhaps  say : 
*  That  same  uniform  experience  on  which  you  justify 


»     '  "       MlRAdL^S.   '    "■'  275 

the  rejection  of  all  miracles,  —  does  it  extend  only  to 
one  part  of  nature,  to  the  physical  and  material  only,  or 
to  the  mental  and  spiritual  also  ? '  In  other  words,  if 
there  were  such  things  as  miracles  at  all,  might  there  be 
miracles  in  connection  with  mind  as  well  as  in  connec- 
tion with  matter  ?     What  would  you  say  ?  " 

"  What  can  I  say,  but  what  Hume  himself  says,  so 
truly  and  so  beautifully,  in  his  essay  on  '  Necessary 
Connection,'  and  '  On  Liberty  and  Necessity ' ;  namely, 
*  that  there  is  a  uniformity  in  both  the  moral  and  phys- 
ical world,  and  that  nature  does  not  transgress  certain 
limits  in  either  the  one  or  the  other '  ?  You  must  re- 
member that  he  says  so  ?  " 

"  I  do,"  said  Harrington.  "  Now,  I  am  afraid  our 
astute  adversary  would  say  that  such  a  complication  of 
false  testimony  as  we  have  supposed  would  itself  be  a 
flagrant  violation  of  the  established  series  of  sequences, 
on  which,  as  applied  to  the  physical  world,  we  justify 
the  rejection  of  all  miracles  ;  that  we  have  got  rid  of  a 
miracle  by  admitting  a  miracle ;  and  that  our  uniform 
experience  has  broken  down  with  us." 

"  But  again  I  say,  there  never  was  such  a  case  of 
testimony,"  urged  Fellowes. 

"  I  wish  this  could  help  us ;  but  it  plainly  will  not ; 
because  we  have  concluded  that,  if  there  were  such  tes- 
timony, we  must  believe  it  false,  and  therefore  should 
admit  that  the  miracle  of  its  falsehood  was,  in  that  case, 
necessary  to  be  believed ;  not  to  say  that  there  has  been, 
in  the  opinion  of  millions,  testimony  often  given  to 
miracles,  which,  if  false,  does  imply  that  the  laws  of  hu- 
man nature  must  have  been  turned  topsy-turvy,  —  and 
I,  for  my  part,  know  not  how  to  disprove  it.  If,  in  such 
cases,  the  testimony,  the  falsity  of  which  would  be  a 
miracle,  is  not  to  be  rejected,  then  we  must  admit  that 
the  miracle  which  it  supports  is  true.     I  must  leave  it 


276  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH.   ^ 

there,"  said  Harrington,  with  an  air  of  comic  resigna- 
tion ;  "  I  cannot  answer  for  any  thing,  except  that  you 
may  reject  both  miracles  alternately^  if  that  will  be  any 
comfort  to  you,  without  being  able  to  disbelieve  both 
simultaneously.  If  you  believe  the  testimony  false,  you 
must  believe  the  alleged  miracle  false ;  but  you  will 
have  then  the  moral  miracle  to  believe.  If  you  believe 
the  testimony  true,  you  will  then  believe  the  physical 
miracle  true.  Perhaps  the  best  way  will  be  to  disbe- 
lieve both  alternately  in  rapid  succession ;  and  you  wiU 
then  hardly  perceive  the  difficulty  at  all ! " 

There  was  here  a  brief  pause.  Harrington  suddenly 
resumed.  "  These  are  very  perplexing  considerations. 
One  thing,  I  confess,  has  often  puzzled  me  much ;  and 
that  is,  —  what  should  we  do,  in  what  state  of  mind 
should  we  be,  if  we  did  see  a  miracle  ?  " 

"  Of  what  use  is  the  discussion  of  such  a  particular 
case,  when  you  know  it  is  impossible  that  we  should 
ever  see  it  realized  ?  "  replied  FeUowes. 

"Of  course  it  is;  just  as  it  is  impossible  that  we 
should  ever  see  levers  perfectly  inflexible,  or  cords  per- 
fectly flexible.  Nevertheless,  it  is  perfectly  possible  to 
entertain  such  a  hypothetical  case,  and  to  reason  with 
great  conclusiveness  on  the  consequences  of  such  a  sup- 
position ;  and  in  the  same  way  we  can  imagine  that  we 
have  seen  a  miracle ;  and  what  then  ?  " 

"  "Why,  if  we  were  to  see  one,  of  course  seeing  is 
believing.  We  must  give  up  our  principle,"  said  Fel- 
lowes,  laughing. 

"  Do  you  think  so  ?  I  think  we  should  be  very 
foolish  then.  How  can  we  be  sure  that  we  have  seen 
it?  Can  it  appeal  to  any  thing  stronger  than  our 
senses^  and  have  not  our  senses  often  beguiled  us  ? " 
Must  we  not  rather  abide  by  that  general  induction 
from  the  evidence  to  which  our  ordinary  experience 


MIRACLES. 


^f» 


points  us  ?  In  other  words,  ought  we  not  to  adhere  to 
the  great  principle  we  have  aheady  laid  down,  that  a 
miracle  is  impossible  ?  " 

"  But,  according  to  this,  if  we  err  in  that  principle, 
and  God  were  to  work  a  miracle  for  the  very  purpose 
of  convincing  us,  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to 
attain  his  purpose." 

"  I  think  it  would,  my  friend,  I  confess ;  just  for  the 
reason  that,  since  we  believe  a  miracle  to  be  impossible, 
we  must  believe  it  impossible  for  even  God  to  work 
one  ;  and  therefore,  if  we  are  mistaken,  and  it  is  possi- 
ble for  him  to  work  one,  it  is  still  impossible  that  he 
should  convince  us  of  it." 

"  I  really  know  not  how  to  go  that  length." 

"  Why  not  ?  You  acknowledge  that  your  senses 
have  deceived  you ;  you  know  that  they  have  deceived 
others ;  and  it  is  on  that  very  ground  that  you  dispose 
of  very  many  cases  of  supposed  miracles  which  you  are 
not  willing,  or  are  not  able,  to  resolve  otherwise.  If  I 
believe,  then,  that  a  miracle  is  impossible,  I  must  admit 
that,  if  I  err  in  that,  it  is  still  impossible  for  God  him- 
self to  convince  me  of  it." 

Fellowes  looked  grave,  but  said  nothing. 

"  And  do  you  know,"  said  Harrington,  "  I  have  some- 
times thought  that  Hume,  so  far  from  representing  his 
argument  from  '  Transubstantiation  '  fairly,  (there  is  an 
obvious  fallacy  on  the  very  face  of  it,  to  which  I  do  not 
now  allude,)  is  himself  precisely  in  the  condition  in 
which  he  represents  the  believer  in  miracles  ?  " 

Fellowes  smiled  incredulously.  "  First,  however,"  said 
he,  "  what  is  the  more  notorious  fallacy  to  which  you 
allude  ?  " 

"  It  is  so  barefaced  an  assumption,  that  I  am  sur- 
prised that  his  acuteness  did  not  see  it ;  or  that,  if  he 
saw  it,  he  could  have  descended  to  make  a  point  by 

24 


278  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

appearing  not  to  see  it.  It  has  been  often  pointed  outj 
and  you  will  recollect  it  the  moment  I  name  it.  You 
know  he  commences  with  the  well-known  argument  of 
Tillotson  against  Transubstantiation,  and  flatters  him- 
self that  he  sees  a  similar  argument  in  relation  to  mir- 
acles. Now  it  certainly  requires  but  a  moderate  de- 
gree of  sagacity  to  see  that  the  very  point  in  which 
Tillotson's  argument  tells,  is  that  very  one  in  which 
Hume's  is  totally  unlike  it.  Tillotson  says,  that  when 
it  is  pretended  that  the  bread  and  wine  which  are  sub- 
mitted to  his  own  senses  have  been  '  transubstantiated 
into  flesh  and  blood,'  the  alleged  phenomena  contradict 
his  senses ;  and  that  as  the  information  of  his  senses  as 
much  comes  from  God  as  the  doctrines  of  Scripture 
(and  even  the  miracles  of  Scripture  appeal  to  nothing 
stronger),  he  must  believe  his  senses  in  this  case  in 
preference  to  the  assertions  of  the  priest.  Hume  then 
goes  on  quietly  to  take  it  for  granted  that  the  miracles 
to  which  consent  is  asked  in  like  manner  contradict  the 
testimony  of  the  senses  of  him  to  whom  the  appeal  is 
made  ;  whereas,  in  fact,  the  assertor  of  the  miracles  does 
not  pretend  that  he  who  denies  them  has  ever  seen 
them,  or  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  them.  To  make 
the  argument  analogous,  it  ought  to  be  shown  that  the 
objector,  having  been  a  spectator  of  the  pretended  mir- 
acles, when  and  where  they  were  affirmed  to  have  been 
wrought,  had  then  and  there  the  testimony  of  his 
senses  that  no  such  events  had  taken  place.  It  is  mere 
juggling  with  words  to  say  that  never  to  have  seen 
a  like  event  is  the  same  argument  of  an  event's  never 
having  occurred,  as  never  to  have  seen  that  event  when 
it  was  alleged  to  have  taken  place  under  our  very 
eyes ! " 

« I  give  up  the  reasoning  on  this  point,"  said  Fel- 
lowes,  "  but  how,  I  should  like  to  know,  do  you  retort 
the  argument  upon  him  ?  " 


MIRACLES.  '1  279 

"  Thus ;  you  see  that  lue  maintain  that  a  miracle  is 
incredible /?er  se^  because  impossible ;  not  to  be  believed, 
therefore,  on  ariT/  evidence." 

"Certainly." 

"  If,  then,  we  saw  what  seemed  a  miracle,  we  should 
distrust  our  senses ;  we  should  say  that  it  was  most 
likely  that  they  deceived  us.  Hear  what  Voltaire  says 
in  one  of  his  letters  to  D'Alembert:  *  Je  persiste  a  pen- 
ser  que  cent  mille  hommes  qui  ont  vu  ressusciter  un 
mort,  pourraient  bien  etre  cent  mille  hommes  qui  au- 
raient  la  berlue.'  And  what  he  says  of  their  bad  eyes, 
there  is  no  doubt  he  would  say  of  his  own,  if  he  had 
been  one  of  the  hundred  thousand." 

"  I  think  so,  certainly." 

"  And  Strauss,  and  Hume,  and  Voltaire,  and  you 
and  I,  and  all  who  hold  a  miracle  impossible,  would 
distrust  our  senses,  and  fall  back  upon  that  testimony 
from  the  general  experience  of  others,  which  alone  could 
correct  our  own  halting  and  ambiguous  experience." 

«  Certainly." 

"  It  appears,  then,  my  good  fellow,  that  the  position 
of  those  who  deny  and  those  who  assert  miracles  is 
exactly  the  reverse  of  Hume's  statement.  The  man 
who  believes  *  Transubstantiation '  distrusts  his  senses, 
and  rather  believes  testimony :  and  even  so  would  he 
who  has  fully  made  up  his  mind,  on  our  sublime  prin- 
ciple, as  to  the  impossibility  of  miracles,  when  any 
thing  which  has  that  appearance  crosses  his  path ;  he 
is  prepared  to  deny  his  senses  and  to  trust  to  testimony, 
—  to  that  general  experience  of  others  which  comes  to 
him,  and  can  come  to  him,  only  in  that  shape.  It  is 
we,  therefore,  and  not  our  adversaries,  who  are  liable  to 
be  reached  by  this  unlucky  illustration." 

Fellowes  himself  seemed  much  amused  by  finding 
the  tables  thus  turned.     For  my  part,  I  had  difficulty 


280  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

in  repressing  a  chuckle  over  this  display  of  sceptical 
candor  and  subtilty. 

"  There  is  perhaps  another  paradox  which  may  be  as 
well  mentioned  "  resumed  Harrington.  "  It  is  a  little 
trying  to  my  scepticism,  but  perhaps  will  not  be  to 
your  faith.  I  mean  this.  We  are  constrained  to  be- 
lieve from  our  ^uniform-experience^  criterion  that  no 
miracle  has  ever  occurred,  or  ever  will ;  in  short,  it  is, 
as  we  say,  impossible.  Now  the  principle  which  un- 
doubtedly leads  us  to  the  conclusion  we  may  regard  as 
a  principle  of  our  nature,  if  ever  there  was  one ;  that  is, 
we  are  so  constituted  as  to  infer  the  perpetual  uniform- 
ity of  certain  sequences  of  phenomena  from  our  obser- 
vation of  that  uniformity." 

"  Assuredly." 

"  And  as  all  mankind  obviously  act  upon  that  same 
principle  in  most  cases,  and  we  believe  that  it  is  part 
of  the  very  uniformity  in  question  that  human  nature 
is  radically  the  same  in  all  ages  and  in  all  countries,  I 
think  we  ought  to  conclude  that  it  is  not  you  and  I 
only,  but  at  all  events  the  vast  majority  of  mankind, 
who  have  maintained  the  impossibility  of  miracles." 

"  We  ought  to  be  able  to  conclude  so,"  said  Fellowes, 
"  but  it  is  very  far  from  being  the  case.  So  far  from  it, 
that  nothing  can  be  plainer  than  that  miraculous  le- 
gends have  been  most  greedily  taken  up  by  the  vast 
majority  of  mankind,  and  have  made  a  very  common 
part  of  almost  every  form  of  religion." 

"  Men  do  not  then,  it  appears,  in  this  instance,  at  all 
regard  the  uniform  tenor  of  their  experience ;  so  that 
it  is  a  part  of  our  uniform  experience,  that  mankind 
disregard  and  disbelieve  the  lessons  of  their  uniform 
experience.  This  is  almost  a  miracle  of  itself;  at  all 
events,  a  curious  paradox ;  but  one  which  we  must  not 
stay  to  examine :  though  I  confess  it  leads  to  one  other 


MIRACLES.  281 

humiliating  conclusion,  —  a  little  corollary,  which  I 
think  it  is  not  unimportant  to  mark ;  and  that  is,  that 
we  can  never  expect  these  enlightened  views  of  ours  to 
spread  amongst  the  mass  of  mankind." 

"  Nay,  I  cannot  agree  with  you.  I  hope  far  other- 
wise, and  far  better  for  the  human  race." 

"Bat  will  the  result  not  contradict  your  uniform 
experience,  if  your  hopes  be  realized?  Is  not  your 
experience  sufficiently  long  and  sufficiently  varied  to 
show  that  the  belief  of  miracles  and  all  sorts  of  prodi- 
gies is  the  normal  condition  of  mankind,  and  that  it  is 
only  a  comparatively  few  who  can  discern  that  uniform 
experience  justifies  man  in  believing  that  no  miracle  is 
possible  ?  While  it  teaches  us  that  a  miracle  is  impos- 
sible, does  it  not  also  teach  us  that,  though  none  is  pos- 
sible, it  is  nevertheless  impossible  that  they  should  not 
be  generally  believed  ?  Is  not  this  taught  us  as  plainly 
by  our  uniform  experience  as  any  thing  else  ?  See  how 
fairly  Hume  admits  this  at  the  commencement  of  his 
Essay  on  Miracles.  He  says,  *  I  flatter  myself  that  I 
have  discovered  an  argument  which,  if  just,  will,  with 
the  wise  and  learned^  be  an  everlasting  check  to  all 
kinds  of  superstitious  delusion,  and  consequently  will 
be  useful  as  long  as  the  world  endures.  For  so  long, 
I  presume,  will  the  accounts  of  miracles  and  prodigies  be 
found  in  all  history,  sacred  and  profane."^  Thus  are  we 
led  to  the  conclusion,  that,  though  miracles  never  can 
be  real,  they  will  nevertheless  be  always  believed ;  and 
that,  though  the  truth  is  with  us,  it  never  can  be  estab- 
lished in  the  minds  of  men  in  general.  And,  my  dear 
friend,  let  us  be  thankful  that  it  never  can ;  for  if  it 
could,  that  fact  would  have  proved  the  possibility  of 
miracles  by  contradicting  one  of  those  very  deductions 
from  uniform  experience  on  the  validity  of  which  their 
impossihr'lity  is  demonstrated. 


282  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  These  are  some  of  the  perplexities,"  continued 
Harrington,  "which,  as  These tetus  says,  sometimes 
make  '  my  head  dizzy,'  when  I  revolve  the  subject. 
Meantime,  surely  a  nobler  spectacle  can  hardly  present 
itself  than  our  fairly  abiding  by  our  principle^  amidst 
so  many  plausible  difficulties  as  assail  it.  I  know  no 
one  principle  in  theology  or  philosophy  which  has  been 
so  battered  as  that  of  Hume.  Not  only  Campbell, 
Paley,  and  so  many  more,  confidently  affirm  errors  in 
it,  —  such  as  his  assuming  individual  or  general  expe- 
rience to  be  universal ;  his  quietly  attributing  to  indi- 
vidual experience  a  belief  of  facts  which  are  believed 
by  the  vast  mass  of  mankind  on  testimony^  and  nothing 
else;  his  representing  the  experience  of  a  man  who 
says  he  has  seen  a  certain  event  as  '  contrary '  to  the 
experience  of  him  who  says  he  has  not  seen  a  similar 
one ;  his  implying  that  no  amount  of  testimony  can 
establish  a  miracle,  which  might  compel  us  to  believe 
moral  miracles  to  get  rid  of  physical  miracles ;  I  say 
not  only  so,  but  the  most  recent  investigators  of  the 
theory  of  evidence  cruelly  abandon  him.  The  argu- 
ment of  Hume  and  Paley,  says  De  Morgan,  in  his  trea- 
tise on  Probabilities,*  is  a  '  fallacy  answered  by  falla- 
cies,' —  meaning  by  this  last  that  Paley  had  conceded 
to  his  opponent  more  than  he  ought  to  have  done. 
With  similar  vexatious  opposition,  Mr.  J.  S.  Mill  says, 
that,  to  make  any  alleged  fact  contradictory  to  a  law  of 
causation,  ^  the  allegation  must  be  that  this  happened 
in  the  absence  of  any  adequate  counteracting  cause. 
Now,  in  the  case  of  an  alleged  miracle,  the  assertion  is 
the  exact  opposite  of  this.'  He  says,  '  that  all  which 
Hume  has  made  out  is,  that  no  evidence  can  prove  a 
miracle  to  any  one  who  did  not  previously  believe  the 

*  Encyclopcedia  Metropolitana :  Theory  of  Probabilities,  S  182. 


3N    A    BOOK-REVELATION.  283 

existence  of  a  h-Ang  or  beings  with  supernatural  power ; 
or  who  believed  himself  to  have /w//;?roo/ that  the  char- 
acter '  *  of  such  being  or  beings  is  inconsistent  with 
such  an  interference ;  that  is,  the  argument  could  have 
no  force  unless  either  a  man  believed  there  were  no  God 
at  all,  or  the  objector  happened  to  be  something  like  a 
God  himself  I  And  now,  lastly,  I  have  shown  that  the 
predicament  of  Hume,  and  Voltaire,  and  Strauss,  and 
you  and  myself  (if  consistent),  is  just  the  reverse  of  that 
in  which  the  argument  from  Transubstantiation  repre- 
sents it.  But  never  mind  ;  so  much  more  glory  is  due 
to  us  for  abiding  by  our  principle.  I  begin  almost  to 
think  that  I  am  arriving  at  that  transcendental  *  faith ' 
which  you  admire  so  much,  and  which  is  totally  inde- 
pendent of  logic  and  argument,  and  all  'intellectual 
processes  whatever.' " 


Jul/j  23.  I  this  day  read  to  Mr.  Fellowes  the  paper 
I  had  promised  a  week  or  two  before,  and  which  1  had 
entitled. 

An  External  Revelation,  even  of  Elementary 
"  Spiritual  and  Moral  Truth,"  very  Possible, 
AND  very  Useful  ;  and  in  Analogy  with  the 
Conditions  of  Human  Development,  whether  in 
the  Individual  or  the  Species. 

It  is  necessary  to  observe  in  the  outset,  that,  even  if 
I  were  to  grant  your  proposition,  "  that  a  revelation  of 
moral  and  spiritual  truth  is  impossible,"  —  understand- 
ing by  such  "  truth  "  what  you  seem  to  mean,  the  truth 
which  *  Natural  Religion,"  as  it  is  called,  has  recog- 
nized in  some  shape  or  other  (for  it  has  varied  not  a 


*  System  of  Logic,  Vol.  11.  pp.  186,  187. 


284  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

little),  —  it  would  leave  the  chief  reasons  for  imparting 
an  external  revelation  just  where  they  were.     I,  at  least, 
should  never  contend  that  the  sole  or  even  chief  object 
of  an  external  revelation  is  to  impart  elementary  moral 
or  spiritual  truth,  however  possible  I  may  deem  it.     On 
.  the  contrary,  I  am  fully  persuaded  that  the  great  pur- 
'  pose  for  which  such  a  revelation  has  been  given  is  to 
I  communicate   facts   and   truths  many  of  which  were 
quite   transcendental   to   the   human  faculties;  which 
I  man  would  never  have  discovered,  and  most  of  which 
he  would  never  have  surmised.     All  this  your  favor- 
ite Mr.  Newman  perceived  in  his  earlier  days  clearly 
enough,  and  has  recorded  his  sentiments  held  at  that 
period   in   his  "  Phases."  *     If  I  were   to   grant  you, 
therefore,  your  proposition,  it  would  leave  the  question 
of  an  external   revelation  untouched ;  your  hasty  in- 
ference from  it,  that  every  book-revelation  is  to  be  re- 
jected, is  perfectly  gratuitous. 

But  I  am  thoroughly  persuaded  that  the  notion  of 
the  impossibility  of  an  external  revelation  of  moral  and 
spiritual  truth,  even  of  the  elementary  form  already 
referred  to,  is  a  fallacy. 

Whether  the  religious  faculty  in  men  be  a  simple 
faculty,  or  (as  Sir  James  Mackintosh  seemed  to  think 
might  possibly  be  the  case  with  conscience)  a  complex 
one,  constituted  by  means  of  several  different  powers 
and  principles  of  our  nature,  is  a  question  not  essential 
to  the  argument ;  for  I  frankly  admit  at  once,  with  Mr. 
Newman  and  Mr.  Parker,  that  there  is  such  a  suscep- 
tibility (simple  or  complex),  and  not  a  mere  abortive 
tendency,  as  Harrington  seems  to  suppose  possible. 
Otherwise  I  cannot,  1  confess,  account  for  the  fact  (so 
largely  insisted  upon  by  Mr.  Parker)  of  the  very  gen- 

•  ?.  42. 


ON    A    BOOK-REVELATION.  ♦  285 

eral,  the  all  but  universal,  adoption  by  man  of  some 
religion,  and  the  powe?',  the  prodigious  power,  which, 
even  when  false,  hideously  false,  it  exerts  over  him. 
But  then  I  must  as  frankly  confess,  that  I  can  as  little 
account  for  all  the  (not  only  tenible  but)  uniform  ab- 
errations of  this  susceptibility,  on  which  Harrington 
has  insisted,  and  which,  I  do  think,  prove  (if  ever  truth 
was  proved  by  induction)  one  of  two  things  ;  either 
that,  as  he  says,  this  susceptibility  in  man  was  origi- 
nally defective  and  rudimentary,  or  that  man  is  no 
longer  in  his  normal  state  ;  in  other  words,  that  he  is, 
as  the  Scriptures  declare,  depraved.  I  acknowledge  I 
accept  this  last  solution ;  and  firmly  believe,  with  Pas- 
cal, that  vnihout  it  moral  and  religious  philosophy  must 
toil  over  the  problem  of  humanity  in  vain. 

If  this  be  so,  we  have,  of  course,  no  difficulty  ia 
believing  that  there  may  be,  in  spite  of  the  existence 
of  the  religious  faculty  in  man,  ample  scope  for  an  ex- 
ternal revelation,  to  correct  its  aberrations  and  remedy 
its  maladies. 

But  you  will  say  that  this  fact  is  not  to  be  taken  for 
granted.  I  admit  it;  and  therefore  lay  no  further 
stress  upon  it.  I  go  one  step  further ;  and  shall  en- 
deavor, at  least,  to  prove,  that,  supposing  man  is  just  ^ 
as  he  was  created,  yet  also  supposing,  what  neither  Mr. 
Parker  nor  Mr.  Newman  will  deny,  (and  if  they  did, 
the  whole  history  of  the  world  would  confute  them,) 
that  man's  religious  faculty  is  not  uniform  or  determi- 
nate in  its  action,  but  is  dependent  on  external  develop- 
ment and  culture  for  assuming  the  form  it  does,  ample 
scope  is  still  left  for  an  external  revelation.  I  contend 
that  the  entire  condition  of  this  susceptibility  (as  shown 
by  experience)  proves  that,  if  in  truth  an  external  reve-"\ 
lation  be  impossible,  it  is  not  because  it  has  superseded 
the  necessity  for  one ;  and  that  the  declaration  of  the 


286  THE    ECIIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

elder  deists  and  modern  "  spiritualists  "  on  this  subject, 
in  the  face  of  what  all  history  proves  man  to  be,  is  the 
most  preposterous  in  the  world. 

Further;  I  contend   that   all  the   analogies  derived 

from  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  development  of  man's 

nature,  —  from  a  consideration  of  the  relations  in  which 

that  nature  stands  to  the  external  world,  —  from  the 

1    absolute  dependence  of  the  individual  on  external  cul- 

\  ture,  and  that  of  the  whole  species  on  its  historic  devel- 

;  opment,  —  are  all  in  favor  of  the   notion  both  of  the 

\  possibility  and   utility  of  an   external  revelation,  and 

even  in  favor  of  that  particular  for7n  of  it  which  Mr. 

Newman  and  you  so  contemptuously  call  a  ^^ book^* 

revelation. 

I.  I  argue  from  all  the  analogies  of  the  fundamental 
laws  of  the  development  of  the  human  mind.  Nor  do 
-  I  fear  to  apply  the  reasoning  even  to  the  cases  in  which 
it  has  been  so  confidently  asserted  that  there  can  be  no 
revelation,  on  the  fallacious  ground  that  a  revelation 
"  of  spiritual  and  moral  truth "  presupposes  in  man 
certain  principles  to  which  it  appeals.  To  possess  cer- 
tain faculties  for  the  appreciation  of  spiritual  and  moral 
truth  is  one  thing ;  to  acquire  the  conscious  possession 
of  that  truth  is  another ;  the  former  fact  would  not 
make  an  external  revelation  superfluous,  or  an  empty 
name.  Every  thing  in  the  process  of  the  mind's  de- 
velopment goes  to  show,  that,  whatever  its  capacities, 
tendencies,  faculties,  "  potentialities,"  (call  them  what 
you  will,)  a  certain  external  influence  is  necessary  to 
/  awaken  its  dormant  life  ;  to  turn  a  "  potentiality  "  into 
(  an  "  energy  " ;  to  transform  a  dim  inkling'  of  a  truth 
\  into  an  intelligent,  vital,  conscious  recognition  of  it. 
Nor  is  this  law  confined  to  mind  alone;  all  nature 
attests  its  presence.  All  effects  are  the  result  of  prop- 
erties or  susceptibilities  in  one  thing,  solicited  by  ex- 


ON    A    BOOK-RE  DELATION.  287 

ternal  contact  with  those  of  others.  The  fire  no  doubt 
may  smoulder  in  the  dull  and  languid  embers;  it  is 
when  the  external  breeze  sweeps  over  them,  that  they 
begin  to  sparkle  and  glow,  and  vindicate  the  vital  ele- 
mr^nt  they  contain.  The  diamond  in  the  mine  has  the 
same  internal  properties  in  the  darkness  as  in  the  light ; 
it  is  not  till  the  sun  shines  upon  it,  that  it  flashes  on 
the  eye  its  splendor.  Look  at  a  flower  of  any  par- 
ticular species ;  we  see  that,  as  it  is  developed  in  con- 
nection with  a  variety  of  external  influences,  —  as  it 
comes  successively  under  the  action  of  the  sun,  rain, 
dew,  soil,  —  it  expands  in  a  particular  manner,  and  in 
that  only.  It  exhibits  a  certain  configuration  of  parts, 
a  certain  form  of  leaf,  a  certain  color,  fragrance,  and  no 
other.  We  do  not  doubt,  on  the  one  hand,  that  with- 
out the  "  skyey  influences  "  these  things  would  never 
have  been ;  nor,  on  the  other,  that  the  flower  assumes 
this  form  of  development,  and  this  alone,  in  virtue  of 
its  internal  structure  and  organization.  But  both  sets 
of  conditions  must  conspire  in  the  result. 

It  is  much  the  same  with  the  mind.  That  it  pos- 
sesses certain  tendencies  and  faculties,  which,  as  it 
develops  itself,  will  terminate  in  certain  ideas  and  sen- 
timents, is  admitted ;  but  apart  from  certain  external 
conditions  of  development,  those  sentiments  and  ideas 
will,  in  effect,  never  be  formed,  —  the  mind  will  be  in 
perpetual  slumber.  Thus,  in  point  of  fact,  this  contro- 
versy is  connected  ultimately  with  that  ancient  dispute 
as  to  the  origin,  sources,  and  genesis  of  human  knowl-, 
edge  and  sentiments.  I  shall  simply  take  for  granted 
that  you  are  (as  most  philosophers  are)  an  advocate  of 
innate  capacities,  but  not  of  "  innate  ideas  "  ;  of  "  innate 
susceptibilities,"  but  not  of  "  innate  sentiments  "  ;  that 
is,  I  presume  you  do  not  contend  that  the  mind  pos- 
sesses more  than  the  faculties  —  the  laws  of  thought 


288  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

and  feeling  —  which,  under  conditions  of  external  de 
velopment,  actually  give  birth  to  thoughts  and  feelings 
These  faculties  and  susceptibilities  are,  no  doubt,  con 
genital  with  the  mind,  —  or,  rather,  are  the  mind  itself. 
I    But  its  actually  manifested  phenomena  wait  the  touch 
^    of  the  external ;  and  they  will  be  modified  accordingly. 
It  is  absolutely  dependent  on  experience  in  this  sense, 
that  it  is  only  as  it  is  operated  upon  by  the  outward 
world  that  the  dormant  faculties,  whatever  they  are,  and 
whatever  their  nature,  be  they  few  or  many,  —  intellect- 
ual, moral,  or  spiritual,  —  are  first  awakened.    If  a  mind 
were  created  (it  is,  at  least,  a  conceivable  case)  with  all 
the  avenues  to  the  external  world  closed,  —  in  fact,  we 
sometimes  see  approximations  to  such  a  condition  in 
'      certain  unhappy  individuals,  —  we  do  not  doubt  that 
such  a  mind,  by  the  present  laws  of  the  human  consti- 
tution, could  not  possess  any  thoughts,  feelings,  emo- 
tions ;  in  fact,  could  exhibit  none  of  the  phenomena, 
spiritual,  intellectual,  moral,  or  sensational,  which  now 
diversify  it.     In  proportion  as  we  see  human  beings 
approach  this  condition,  —  in  fact,  we  sometimes  see 
them  approach  it  very  nearly,  —  we  see  the  "  potentiali- 
ties "  of  the  soul  (I  do  not  like  the  word,  but  it  ex- 
presses my  meaning  better  than    any  other  I  know) 
held  in  abeyance,  and  such  an  imperfectly  awakened 
man  does  not,  in  some  cases,  manifest  the  degree  of 
J      sensibility  or  intelligence  manifested  in  many  animals. 
v'  /If  the    seclusion  from  sense  and  experience  be  quite 
;     1  complete,  the  life  of  such  a  soul  would  be  wrapped  up 
I  in  the  germ,  and  possess  no  more  consciousness  than  a 
vegetable. 

It  appears,  then,  that  universally,  however  true  it  may 
be,  and  doubtless  is,  that  the  laws  of  thought  and  fuel- 
ing enable  us  to  derive  from  external  influence  what  it 
alone  would  never  give,  yet  that  influence  is  an  indis- 


ON    A    BOOK-REVELATION.  289 

peiisable  condition,  as  we  are  at  present  constituted,  of 
the  development  of  any  and  of  all  our  faculties. 

As  this  seems  the  law  of  development  universally,  iV 
is  so  of  the  spiritual  and  leligious  part  of  our  nature  as 
well  as  the  rest;  and  in  this  very  fact  we  have  abun- 
dant scope  for  the  possibility  and  utility  of  a  revela- 
tion, —  if  God  be  pleased  to  give  one,  —  even  of  ele- 
mentary moral  and  spiritual  truth;  since,  though  con- 
ceding the  perfect  congruity  between  that  truth  and] 
the  structure  of  the  soul,  it  is  only  as  it  is  in  some  way  I 
actually  presented  to  it  from  without,  that  it  arrives  at 
the  conscious  possession  of  it.  And  what,  after  all,  but 
such  an  external  source  of  revelation  is  that  Volume  of 
Nature,  which,  operating  in  perfect  analogy  with  the 
aforesaid  conditions  of  the  soul's  development,  awakens, 
though  imperfectly,  the  dormant  elements  of  religious 
and  spiritual  life  ?  So  far  from  its  being  true  in  any 
intelligible  sense  that  an  external  revelation  of  moral 
and  spiritual  truth  is  impossible,  it  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary, in  some  form,  as  a  condition  of  its  evolution ;  so 
far  from  its  being  true  that  such  revelation  is  an  ab- 
surdity, it  is  in  strict  analogy  with  the  fundamental  laws 
of  our  being.  Whether,  if  this  be  so,  the  express  ex- 
ternal presentation  of  such  truth  in  a  book  constructed 
by  divine  wisdom  and  expressed  in  human  language,  -— 
this  last  being  the  most  universal  and  most  appropriate 
instrument  by  which  man's  dormant  powers  are  actually 
awakened,  —  may  not  be  a  more  effective  method  of 
attaining  the  end  than  any  of  man's  devising,  whether 
instinctive  or  artificial ;  or  than  the  casual  influences  of 
external  nature,  well  or  ill  deciphered ;  —  all  this  is  an- 
other question.  But  some  such  external  apparatus  — 
applied  to  the  faculties  of  men  —  is  essential,  whether 
it  be  in  the  Volume  of  Nature,  or  in  the  "  Bible  "  or  in 
a  book  of  Mr.  Newman  or  Mr  Parker.     All  that  makes 

25 


290  THE    ECLIPSE    OP    FAITH. 

the  difference  between  you  and  a  Hottentot  (to  recur 
to  that  illustration  which  Harrington,  I  really  think, 
fairly  employed)  depends  on  external  influences,  and 
the  consequent  development  of  the  spiritual  and  re- 
ligious faculties. 

And  this  very  fact  —  the  unspeakable  differences  be- 
tween man  and  man,  nation  and  nation,  as  regards  the 
recognition,  the  conscious  possession,  of  even  elementary 
"moral  and  spiritual  truth"  (varying,  as  it  perpetually 
does,  as  those  external  influences  vary,  and  more  or  less 
perfect,  according  as  that  external  "  revelation,"  which, 
in  some  degree,  and  of  some  species,  is  indispensable,  is 
more  or  less  perfect)  —  affords  another  indication  of  the 
ample  utility  of  an  external  divine  revelation,  as  well  as 
of  its  possibility  ;  and  a  proof  that,  if  there  be  one,  it  is 
in  harmony,  again,  with  the  conditions  of  human  na- 
ture. And  here  I  may  employ,  in  further  illustration, 
one  of  the  analogies  I  adverted  to  a  little  time  ago. 
Not  only  is  the  flower  never  independent  of  external  in- 
fluences for  its  actual  development,  —  not  only  would  it 
remain  in  the  germ  without  them,  —  but  we  see  that 
within  certain  limits,  often  very  wide,  the  kind  of  ex- 
ternal influence  operates  powerfully  on  the  species,  and 
on  the  individual  itself;  —  according  as  it  is  in  one 
climate  or  another, — in  this  soil  or  that, —  submitted 
to  culture  or  suffered  to  grow  wild.  It  is  needless  to 
apply  the  analogy.  While  we  see  that  the  moral  and 
spiritual  faculties  of  man  no  more  than  his  other  facul- 
.ties  can  attain  their  development  except  in  coopera- 
tion with  some  external  influences,  we  also  see  that  they 
exhibit  every  degree  and  variety  of  development  accord- 
ing to  the  quality  of  those  external  influences.  Is  there 
then  not  even  a  possibility  left  for  an  external  revela- 
tion ?  If  the  actual  exhibition  of  any  spiritual  and 
religious  phenomena  in  man  not  only  depends  on  some 


ON    A    BOOK-REVELATION.  291 

external  influences  and  culture,  but  perpetually  varies/ 
with  them,  what  would  such  a  revelation  be  but  a  pro-i 
vision  in  analogy  with  these  facts?    But  it  is  sufficient^ 
to  rebut  this  gratuitous  dictum,  of  an  external  revela- 
tion of  "spiritual  and  moral  truth  being  impossible,'^ 
that  some  external  influence  is  necesssary  for  any  de- 
velopment of  the  religious  faculty  at  all.     If  the  last  be 
necessary^  I  cannot  conceive  how  the  other  should  be 
impossible. 

Nor  is  it  any  reply  to  say,  —  as   I  think  has  been 

abundantly  shown  in  your  debates  with  Harrington, j 

that  any  such  external  influences  only  make  articulate  j 
that  which  already  existed  inarticulately  in  the  heart ;  \ 
that  they  only  chafe  and  stimulate  into  life  "  the  ivory    - 
of  Pygmalion's  statue,"  to  use  his  expression,  —  the  dor- 
mant principles  and  sentiments  which  somehow  existed, 
but  were  in  deep  slumber.     That  which  makes  them 
vital,  active,  the  objects  of  consciousness  and  the  sour- 
ces of  power,  may  well  be  called  a  "  revelation."     Nay, 
since  it  seems  that,  in  some  way,  this  outward  voice 
must  be  heard  first,  I  think  it  is  more  properly  so  called 
than  the  internal  response  of  the  heart.     That  is  rather 
the  echo. 

It  may  be  admitted  that  the  elementary  truths  of  re- 
ligion, once  propounded,  are  promptly  admitted,  but 
still  in  some  external  shape  they  require  to  be  pro- 
pounded. There  is  such  a  thing  in  the  human  mind 
as  unrealized  truth,  both  intellectual  and  spiritual ;  the 
inarticulate  muttering  of  an  obscurely  felt  sentiment ;  a 
vague  appetency  for  something  we  are  not  distinctly 
conscious  of.  The  clear  utterance  of  it,  its  distinct 
proposition  to  us,  is  the  very  thing;  that  is  often  wanted 
to  convert  this  dim  feeling  into  distinct  vision.  This  is 
the  electric  spark^which  transforms  two  invisible  gases 
into  a  visible  and  transparent  fluid ;  this  is  the  influence 


2^2  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

which  evolves  the  latent  caloric,  and  makes  it  a  power- 
ful and  active  element. 

I  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  great  source  of  your 
fallacy  on  this  subject  arises  from  confounding  the  idea 
of  certain  characteristic  tendencies  and  potentialities  of 
our  nature  with  the  supposition,  —  contradicted  by  the 
whole  religious  history  of  man  in  all  ages,  —  that  they 
must  be  everywhere  efficaciously  active,  and  spontane- 
ously exhibit  a  moral  manifestation  ;  than  which  there 
cannot,  I  conceive,  be  a  greater  error. 

I  must  entreat  you  to  recollect  Harrington's  dilemma, 
liither  the  supposed  truths  of  your  spiritual  theory,  or 
that  of  Mr.  Newman  or  Mr.  Parker,  are  known  to  all 
mankind,  or  not ;  if  they  are,  surely  their  books,  and 
every  such  book  is  the  most  impertinent  in  the  world ; 
if  not,  these  authors  did  well  to  write,  supposing  them 
,  to  have  truth  on  their  side ;  but  then  that  vindicates 
the  possibility  and  utility  of  a  "book-revelation." 

II.  But  I  go  a  step  further,  and  not  only  contend 
that,  from  the  very  law  of  the  soul's  development,  there 
is  ample  scope  for  a  revelation,  even  of  elementary 
"  moral  and  spiritual  truth,"  but  that  even  if  we  sup- 
posed all  men  in  actual  possession  of  that  truth,  in  some 
sliape  or  other,  there  would  still  be  abundant  scope  for 
a  divinely  constructed  external  instrument  for  giving 
il  efficacy;  and  that  this,  again,  is  in  perfect  analogy 
with  the  fundamental  condition  of  the  soul's  action. 
The  principles  of  spiritual  and  religious  life  are  capa- 
ble m  an  infinite  variety  of  ways,  of  being  modified, 
intensified,  vivified,  by  the  external  influences  brought 
to  bear  upon  them  from  time  to  time.  Not  only  must 
that  external  influence  be  exerted  for  the  first  awaken- 
ing of  the  soul,  but  it  must  be  continued  all  our  life 
long,  in  order  to  maintain  the  principles  thus  elicited 
in  a  state  of  activity.     Sometimes  they  seem  for  a  while 


ON    A    BOOK-REVELATION.  293 

to  have  been  half  obliterated,  —  to  fade  away  from  the 
consciousness ;  they  are  reillurained,  made  to  blaze  out 
again  in  brilliant  light  on  the  "walls  of  the  chambers 
of  imagery,"  by  some  outward  stimulus ;  by  a  "  word 
spoken  in  season  " ;  by  the  recollection  of  some  weighty 
apothegm  which  embodies  truth,  —  some  ennobling 
image  which  illustrates  it;  by  the  utterance  of  certain 
"  charmed  words,"  hallowed  by  association  as  they  fall 
on  the  external  sense,  or  are  recalled  by  memory.  How 
familiar  to  us  all  is  this  dependence  on  the  external! 
How  dull,  how  sluggish,  has  often  been  the  soul!  A 
single  word,  the  sight  of  an  object  surrounded  with 
vivid  associations,  the  sudden  suggestion  of  a  half- 
forgotten  strain  of  poetry  or  song,  —  what  power  have 
these  to  stir  its  stagnant  depths,  and  awaken  "  spiritual " 
and  every  other  species  of  emotion,  as  well  as  intel- 
lectual activity!  The  lightning  does  not  more  sud- 
denly cleave  the  cloud  in  which  it  slumbered,  the  sleep- 
ing ocean  is  not  more  suddenly  ruffled  by  the  descend- 
ing tempest,  than  the  soul  of  man  is  thus  capable  of 
being  vivified  and  animated  by  the  presentation  of  ap- 
propriate objects,  —  nay,  often  by  even  the  most  casual 
external  impulse.  If  this  be  so,  is  it  not  possible  that 
an  external  instrument  for  thus  stimulating  and  vivify- 
ing spiritual  life  might  be  given  us  by  God ;  which,  if 
not,  in  literal  strictness,  a  "revelation,"  would  virtually 
have  all  the  effect  of  one,  as  rekindling  the  dying 
light,  reillumining  the  fading  characters,  of  spiritual 
truth  ? 

Nor,  surely,  is  there  much  presumption  inr-supposing 
that  the  appropriate  influences  of  such  an  instrumen- 
tality may  be  brought  to  bear  upon  us  with  infinite  ad- 
vantage by  Him  who  alone  possesses  perfect  access  to 
all  the  avenues  of  our  spirits ;  a  perfect  mastery  of  oui 
whole  nature ;  of  intellect,  imagination,  and  conscience , 
35  * 


294  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

of  those  laws  of  association  and  emotion  which  He 
himself  has  framed.  If  Shakspeare  and  Milton  can 
daily  exercise  over  myriads  of  minds  an  ascendency 
which  makes  their  admirers  speak  of  them  almost  with 
the  "  Bibliolatry  "  with  which  Mr.  Newman  makes  the 
Christian  speak  of  the  Bible,  I  apprehend  God  could 
construct  a  "  book,"  even  though  it  told  man  nothing' 
which  was  strictly  a  revelation,  which  might  be  of  in- 
finite value  to  him  ;  simply  from  the  fact  that  the  7nodes 
in  which  truths  operate  upon  us,  and  by  which  our 
faculties  are  educated  to  their  perfection,  are  scarcely 
less  important  than  either  the  truths  or  the  faculties 
themselves. 

But  I  need  say  the  less  upon  this  point,  inasmuch  as 
Mr.  Newman  has  spoken  of  the  New  Testament,  and 
its  influence  over  his  mental  history,  in  terms  which 
conclusively  show  that,  if  it  be  not  a  "  revelation,"  am- 
ple space  is  left  for  such  a  divinely  constructed  book, 
if  God  were  pleased  to  give  one. 

"  There  is  no  book  in  all  the  world,"  says  he,  "  which 
I  love  and  esteem  so  much  as  the  New  Testament,  with 
the  devotional  parts  of  the  Old.  There  is  none  which  I 
know  so  intimately,  the  very  words  of  which  dwell  close 
to  me  in  my  most  sacred  thoughts^  none  for  which  I  so 
thank  God,  none  on  which  my  soul  and  heart  have  been 
^o  so  great  an  extent  moulded.  In  my  early  boyhood^  it 
was  my  private  delight  and  daily  companion  ;  and  to  it 
I  owe  the  best  part  of  whatever  wisdom  there  is  in  my 
manhood."  * 

I  only  doubt  whether  even  this  testimony,  strong  as 
it  is,  fully,  represents  the  power  which  the  Book  has 
had  in  modifying  his  interior  life,  though  he  would  now 
fain  renounce  its  proper  authority  ;   whether  it  has  not 

*•  Soul,  pp.  241,  242. 


ON    A    BOOK-REVELATION.  295 

had  more  to  do  the  n  he  thinks  in  originating^  his  con- 
ception of  such  "  moral  and  spiritual "  truth  as  he  still 
recognizes.  Its  very  language  comes  so  spontaneously 
to  his  lips,  that  his  dialect  of  "spiritualism"  is  one 
continued  plagiarism  from  David  and  Isaiah,  Paul  and 
Christ.  Nay,  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  the  en- 
tire substance  of  his  spiritual  theory  be  any  thing  else 
than  a  distorted  and  mutilated  Christianity. 

Some  of  the  previous  observations  apply  to  the  possi- 
bility and  utihty  of  a  divinely  originated  statement  of 
"  ethical  truth  "  ;  nor  will  they  be  neutralized  by  an  ob- 
jection which  Mr.  Newman  is  fond  of  urging,  —  namely, 
that  a  book  cannot  express  (as  it  is  freely  acknowledged 
no  book  can)  the  limitations  with  which  maxims  of 
ethical  truth  are  to  be  received  and  applied ;  that  all  it 
can  do  is  to  give  general  principles,  and  leave  them  to 
be  applied  by  the  individual  reason  and  conscience. 
Such  reasomng^is  refuted  by  fact  The  same  thing 
precisely  is  done,  and  necessarily  done,  in  every  depart- 
ment in  which  men  attempt  to  convey  instruction  in 
any  particular  art  or  method.  It  is  thus  with  the  gen- 
eral principles  of  mechanics,  of  law,  of  medicine.  Yet 
men  never  entertain  a  notion  that  the  collection  and 
inculcation  of  such  maxims  are  of  no  use,  or  of  little, 
merely  because  they  must  be  intelligently  modified  and 
not  blindly  applied  in  action.  If  indeed  there  were 
any  force  in  the  objection,  it  would  put  an  end  to  all 
instruction,  —  that  of  Mr.  Newman's  "  spiritual  faculty  " 
amongst  the  rest,  for  that  too  can  only  prompt  us  by 
general  impulses,  and  leaves  us  in  the  same  ignorance 
and  perplexity  how  far  we  are  to  obey  them.  That  is 
still  to  be  otherwise  determined.  The  genuine  result 
of  such  reasoning,  if  it  were  acted  upon,  would  be  that 
we  need  never,  in  any  science  or  art  whatever,  trouble 
ourselves  to  enunciate  any  general  principle  or  maxim, 


296  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

because  perfectly  useless !  Similarly,  we  need  never 
inculcate  on  children  the  duty  of  obeying  their  parents, 
honoring  their  superiors,  of  being  frugal  or  diligent, 
humble  or  aspiring,  the  particular  circumstances  and 
limitations  in  which  they  are  to  be  applied  being  inde- 
terminate !  But  is  not  the  experience  of  every  day  and 
of  all  the  world  against  it?  Is  not  the  early  and  sedu- 
lous inculcation  of  just  maxims  of  duiy  felt  to  be  a  great 
auxiliary  to  its  performance  in  the  circumstances  in 
which  it  is  necessary  to  apply  them  ?  Is  not  the  pos- 
session of  a  general  rule,  with  the  advantages  of  a  clear 
and  concise  expression,  —  in  the  form  of  familiar  prov- 
erbs, or  embodied  in  powerful  imagery,  —  a  potent  sug"' 
gestive  to  the  mind ;  not  only  whispering  of  duty,  but, 
by  perpetual  recurrence,  aiding  the  habit  of  attending  to 
it  ?  Is  not  the  early  and  earnest  iteration  of  such  sen- 
tentious wisdom  in  the  ears  of  the  young, —  the  honor 
which  has  been  paid  to  sages  who  have  elicited  it,  or 
felicitously  expressed  it,  —  the  care  with  which  these 
treasures  of  moral  wisdom  have  been  garnered  up,  — 
the  perpetual  efforts  to  conjoin  elementary  moral  truth 
with  the  fancy  and  association,  — is  not  all  this  a  stand- 
ing testimony  to  a  consciousness  of  the  value  of  such 
auxiliaries  of  virtue  and  duty  ?  Is  it  hot  felt,  that,  how- 
ever general  such  truths  may  be,  the  very  forms  of  ex- 
pression, —  the  portable  shape  in  which  the  truth  is  pre- 
sented,—  have  an  immense  value  in  relation  to  prac- 
tice ?  Admitting,  therefore,  as  before,  —  but,  as  before, 
only  conceding  it  for  argument's  sake  (for  the  limits 
of  variation,  even  as  regards  the  elementary  truths 
of  morals^  are,  as  experience  shows,  very  wide),  —  that 
each  man  in  some  shape  could  anticipate  for  himself 
the  more  important  ethical  truth,  there  would  be  yet 
ample  scope  left  for  the  utility  of  a  divinely  constructed 
instrument  for  its  exhibition  and  enforcement,  in  par- 


ON    A    BO,  IK.  REVELATION.  297 

feet  harmony  with  the  modes  in  which  it  is  actually  ex- 
hibited and  enforced  by  man,  in  close  analogy  with  the 
form  in  which  he  attempts  the  same  task,  whenever  he 
teaches  any  practical  art  or  method  whatever. 

Only  may  it  not  be  again  presumed  here,  that  He 
who  knows  perfectly  "  what  is  in  man  "  would  be  able 
to  perform  the  work  with  correspondent  perfection? 
Whether  He  has  performed  it  in  the  Bible  or  not,  that 
book  does,  at  all  events,  contain  not  merely  a  larger 
portion  of  pure  ethical  truth  than  any  other  in  the 
world,  but  ethical  truth  expressed  and  exhibited  (as 
Mr.  Newman  himself,  and  most  other  persons,  would 
admit)  in  modes  incomparably  better  adapted  than  in 
any  other  book  to  lay  hold  of  the  memory,  the  imagi- 
nation, the  conscience,  and  the  heart. 

Even  then,  if  we  conceded  that  elementary  "  spiritual 
and  moral  truth  "  is  not  only  congruous  to  man's  facul- 
ties, but  in  some  shape  universally  recognized  and  pos- 
sessed, it  might  yet  be  contended,  from  the  manner  in 
which  such  truth  is  dependent  for  its  power  and  vitality 
on  the  forms  in  which  it  comes  in  contact  with  the  hu- 
man spirit  and  stimulates  it,  that  ample  space  is  left 
for  such  a  divine  instrument  as  the  Bible ;  and  that  it 
would  be  in  perfect  conformity  with  the  laws  of  our 
nature,  —  in  analogy  with  the  known  modes  in  which 
external  aids  give  efficacy  to  such  truth.  At  the  same 
time,  be  pleased  once  more  to  remember,  that  I  con- 
cede so  much  only  for  argument's  sake  ;  I  contend  that 
in  the  stricter  sense,  without  some  external  aid,  —  and 
the  Bible  may  be  at  least  as  effectual,  — ;  the  religious 
faculty  will  not  expand  at  all  ^  and  that,  even  where 
there  are  these  indispensable  external  influences,  the 
recognition  of  the  truth  is  obscure  or  bright,  as  those 
influences  vary  in  their  degrees  of  appropriateness. 
Where  they  are  rude  and  imperfect,  (a&  amongst  bar- 


298  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

barous  nations)  we  have  the  spectacle  of  a  soul  which 
•r  (liruggles  towards  the  light,  like  a  plant  to  which  but  a 
small  portion  of  the  sun's  rays  is  admitted ;  it  depends 
on  the  free  admission  of  that  light  whether  or  not  it 
shall  arrive  at  its  full  development,  —  its  beauty,  its 
fragrance,  and  its  color.  The  most  that  merely  human 
culture  can  promise,  even  under  the  most  favorable 
circumstances,  (witness  ancient  Greece  I)  is  that  men, 
in  some  few  favored  instances,  may  possibly  attain 
those  truths  which  it  may  be  admitted  are  congenial  to 
the  soul,  and  easily  recognized  when  once  propounded, 
but  which,  in  fact,  few  men,  by  nature's  sole  teaching, 
ever  do  clearly  attain.  It  is  infinitely  important  that 
/the  path,  dimly  explored  by  sages  alone,  should  be 
'  { thrown  open  to  mankind.  Is  it  not  even  possible^  then, 
that  this  task  should  be  performed  by  a  book  like  the 
Bible  ?  and  if  such  a  book  were  given,  would  it  not  be, 
I  once  more  ask,  in  analogy  with  the  fundamental  laws 
of  the  soul's  development,  —  its  uniform  dependence  on 
external  influences  for  any  result,  and  the  variable  na- 
ture of  that  result,  as  the  influence  itself  is  more  or  less 
appropriate  ?  To  affirm  that  each  man  at  once,  by  in- 
ternal illumination  alone,  attains  a  clear  recognition  of 
even  elementary  "  moral  and  spiritual  truth  "  is  to  ig- 
nore the  laws  according  to  which  the  soul's  activity  is 
developed,  and  to  contradict  universal  experience,  which 
tells  us  that  the  great  majority  of  mankind  are  but  in 
partial  possession  of  this  "  spiritual  and  moral  truth," 
and  hold  it  for  the  most  part  in  connection  with  the 
most  prodigious  and  pernicious  errors. 

You  will  perceive  that  I  have  here  chosen  to  argue 
the  question  of  the  possibility  and  utility  of  a  "  revela- 
tion "  on  your  cwn  grounds;  but  recollect  what  I  have 
said,  that,  in  fact,  the  principal  reasons  for  a  revelation 
would  still  remain  in  force,  even  if  all  you  demand 


ON    A    BOOK-REVELATION.  299 

were  conceded.     It  is  a  point  which  I  do  not  find  that 
Mr.  Newman's  dictum  affects. 

There  may  obviously  be  other  facts  and  other  truths 
as  intimately  connected  with  man's  destinies  and  hap- 
piness as  the  elementary  truths  of  religious  and  moral 
science ;  facts  and  truths  which  may  be  necessary  to 
give  efficacy  to  mere  elementary  principles,  and  to  sup- 
ply motives  to  the  performance  of  moral  precepts.  And 
how  ample  in  this  respect  are  man's  necessities,  and 
how  large  the  field  for  a  "  divine  revelation,"  if  we  con- 
tent ourselves  with  such  a  meagre  theology  as  that  of 
Mr.  Parker  and  Mr.  Newman,  you  see  plainly  enough 
in  the  questions  asked  by  Harrington  !  How  many  of 
Mr.  Newman's  and  Mr.  Parker's  assumptions  —  the 
moment  they  step  beyond  such  "spiritual  and  moral 
truth  "  as  is  "  elementary  "  indeed  —  does  Harrington 
declare  that  he  finds  unverified  by  his  own  conscious- 
ness, and  needing,  if  true,  an  authority  to  confirm  them 
far  more  weighty  than  theirs!  As  to  the  terms  of  a.<>\ 
cess  to  the  Supreme  Being,  —  his  aspects  towards  man,  \ 

—  man's  duties  towards  him, —  the  future  destinies,; 
even  the  future  existence,  of  the  soul  (a  point  on  which ) 
these  writers  are  themselves  divided),  —  the  boasted 
"  progress  "  of  the  race,  which  they  "  prophesy,"  indeed, 
but  without  any  credentials  of  their  mission,  —  you  see 
how  on  all  these  points  Harrington  maintains  —  and  oh! 
how  many,  if  the  Bible  be  untrue,  must  maintain  with 
him  —  that  he  is  in  total  darkness ! 

in.  But  I  must  proceed  to  show  yet  further,  if  you 
will  have  patience  with  me,  that,  supposing  a  divine 
external  revelation  to  be  given,  it  is  in  striking  analogy, 
not  only  with  the  primary  laws  of  development  of  our 
whole  intellectual  and  spiritual  being,  but  with  the  fact 

—  undeniable,  however  unaccountable  —  that  our  sub- 
jection to  external  influence's  does,  in  truth,  not  only 


300  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

mould  and  modify,  but  usually  determine,  our  inte. 
lectual  and  religious  position.  "We  see  not  only  that 
some  external  influence  is  necessary  to  awaken  any 
activity  at  all,  but  that  it  is  actually  so  powerful  and  so 
inevitable  from  the  manner  in  which  man  enters  the 
world,  and  is  brought  up  in  it,  —  his  long  years  of  de- 
pendence, absolute  dependence,  on  the  education  which 
is  given  him  (and  what  an  education  it  has  ever  been 
for  the  mass  of  the  race  !),  —  that  it  makes  all  the  differ- 
ence, intellectually  and  morally,  between  a  New  Zea- 
land savage  and  an  Englishman,  —  between  the  gross- 
est idolater  and  the  most  enlightened  Christian.  This 
fact  affects  alike  our  intellectual  and  spiritual  condi- 
tion. The  savage  can  use  his  senses  better  than  the 
civilized;  but  the  interval  is  trifling  compared  with 
that  between  the  intellectual  condition  of  a  man  who 
can  appreciate  Milton  and  Newman,  and  that  of  our 
Teutonic  ancestors.  In  the  sentiments  of  a  spiritual 
nature  there  is  the  same  wide  gulf — or  rather  wider  — 
between  a  Hottentot  and  a  Paul.  Yet  the  same  "  sus- 
ceptibilities "  and  "  potentialities  "  are  in  each  human 
mind.  The  same  remark  applies  to  the  sense  of  the 
beautiful  and  sublime  ;  the  characteristic  faculties  are  in 
all  mankind  ;  it  is  education  which  elicits  them.  Nay, 
would  you  not  stare  at  a  man  who  should  affirm  that 
education  was  not  itself  a  species  of  "  revelation," 
simply  because  the  truths  thus  communicated  were  all 
"  potentially  "  in  the  mind  before  ?  The  fact  is,  that 
education  is  of  coordinate  importance  with  the  very 
faculties  without  which  it  cannot  be  imparted. 

Now  we  cannot  break  away  from  that  law  of  de- 
velopment with  which  our  individual  existence  is  in- 
volved, and  which  necessarily  (as  far  as  any  will  of 
ours  is  concerned)  is  a  most  important,  nay,  the  most 
important,  element  in  that  teriium  quid  which  man 


ON    A    BOOK-REVELATION. 


301 


becomes  in  virtue  of  the  threefold  elements  which  con- 
stitute him ;  —  1st,  a  given  internal  constitution  of  nuind ; 
2d,  the  modifying  effects  of  the  actual  exercise  of  his 
faculties  and  their  interaction  with  one  another,  result- 
ing in  habits;  and,  3d,  that  external  world  of  influences 
which  supplies  the  materiel  from  which  this  strange 
plant  extracts  its  aliment,  and  ultimately  derives  its  fair 
fruits  or  its  poisonous  berries.  All  this  is  inevitable,  ) 
upon  the  supposition  that  man  was  to  be  a  social,  not  a  ) 
solitary  being,  —  linked  by  an  indissoluble  chain  to  those 
who  came  before  and  to  those  who  come  after  him,  — 
dependent,  absolutely  dependent,  upon  others  for  his 
being,  his  training,  his  whole  condition,  civil,  social, 
intellectual,  moral,  and  religious.  If,  then,  an  external  , 
instrument  of  moral  and  religious  culture  were  given 
by  God  to  man,  would  it  not  be  in  strict  analogy  with 
this  tremendous  and  mysterious  law  of  human  develop- 
ment? 

IV.  I  must  be  permitted  to  proceed  yet  one  step 
further,  and  affirm  that  the  very  form  in  which  this 
presumed  revelation  has  (as  we  say)  been  given  — 
that  of  a  Book  —  is  also  in  strict  analogy  with  the 
law  by  which  God  himself  has  made  this  an  indispen- 
sable instrument  of  all  human  progress.  We  have 
just  seen  that  man  is  what  he  is,  as  much  (to  say  the 
least)  by  the  influence  of  external  influence  as  by  the 
influence  of  the  internal  principles  of  his  constitution ; 
it  must  be  added,  that  to  make  that  external  influence 
of  much  efficiency  at  all,  still  more  to  render  it  either 
universally  or  progressively  beneficial,  the  world  waits 
for  a  —  Book.  Among  the  varied  external  influences 
amidst  which  the  human  race  is  developed,  this  is  in- 
comparably the  most  important,  and  the  only  one 
that  is  absolutely  essential  Upon  it  the  collective 
education    of    the    race    depends.       It    is    the    sole 

26 


302 


THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 


instrument   of   registering,    perpetuating,    transmitting 
thought. 

Yes,  whatever  trivial  and  vulgar  associations  may- 
impair  our  due  conceptions  of  the  grandeur  of  this  ma- 
terial and  artificial  organon  of  man's  development,  as 
compared  with  the  intellectual  and  moral  energies, 
which  have  recourse  to  it,  but  which  are  almost  im- 
potent without  it,  God  has  made  man's  whole  career 
of  triumphs  dependent  upon  this  same  art  of  writing ! 
Y  /  The  whole  progress  of  the  world  he  has  created,  he  has 
(  made  dependent  upon  the  Alphabet !  Without  this  the 
progress  of  the  individual  is  inconceivably  slow,  and 
with  him,  for  the  most  part,  progress  terminates.  By 
this  alone  can  we  garner  the  fruits  of  experience,  —  be- 
come wise  by  the  wisdom  of  others,  and  strong  by  their 
strength.  Without  this  man  everywhere  remains,  age 
after  age,  immovably  a  savage ;  and,  if  he  were  to  lose 
it  when  he  has  once  gained  it,  would,  after  a  little 
ineffectual  flutter  by  the  aid  of  tradition,  sink  into 
barbarism  again.  Till  this  cardinal  want  is  supplied, 
all  considerable  "  progress  "  is  impossible.  It  may  look 
odd  to  say  that  the  whole  world  is  dependent  on  any 
thing  so  purely  artificial;  but,  in  point  of  fact,  it  is 
only  another  way  of  stating  the  truth,  that  God  has 
constituted  the  race  a  series  of  mutually  dependent 
beings  ;  and  as  each  term  of  this  series  is  perishable  and 
evanescent,  the  development  and  improvement  of  the 
race  must  depend  on  an  instrument  by  which  an  inter- 
connection can  be  maintained  between  its  parts ;  till 
*  then,  progress  must  not  only  be  most  precarious,  but  vir- 
tually impossible.  To  the  truth  of  this  all  history  testi- 
fies. I  say,  then,  not  only  that,  if  God  has  given  man  a 
revelation  at  all,  he  has  but  acted  in  analogy  with  that 
law  by  which  he  has  made  man  so  absolutely  dependent 
upon  external  culture,  but  that  if  he  has  given  it  in  the 


ON    A    BOOK-REVELATION.  303 

very  shape  of  a  book,  he  has  acted  also  in  strict  analogy 
with  the  very  form  in  which  he  has  imposed  that  law 
on  the  world.  He  has  simply  made  use  of  that  instru- 
ment, which,  by  the  very  constitution  of  our  nature  and 
of  the  world,  he  has  made  absolutely  essential  to  the 
progress  and  advancement  of  humanity.  May  we  not 
conclude  from  analogy,  that  if  God  has  indeed  thus 
constituted  the  world,  and  if  he  busies  himself  at  all 
in  the  fortunes  of  miserable  humanity,  he  has  not  dis- 
dained to  take  part  in  its  education,  by  condescendingly 
using  that  very  instrument  which  himself  has  made  the 
condition  of  all  human  progress  ?  I  think,  even  if  you 
hesitate  to  admit  that  God  has  given  us  a  "  book-reve- 
lation," you  must  admit  it  would  be  at  least  in  mani- 
fest coincidence  with  the  laws  of  human  development 
and  the  "  constitution  and  course  of  nature." 

To  conclude ;  I  must  say  that  Mr.  Newman,  in  his 
account  of  the  genesis  of  religion,  does  himself  in  effect 
admit  (as  Harrington  has  remarked)  an  "  external  rev- 
elation," though  not  in  a  book.  For  what  else  is  that 
apparatus  of  external  influences  by  which  the  several 
preparatory  or  auxiliary  emotions  are  awakened,  and 
the  development  of  your  "  spiritual  faculty  "  effected  ? 
—  contact  with  the  outward  world,  —  with  visible  and  ) 
material  nature,  —  the  instruction  of  the  living  voice !  ' "» 
If  you  acknowledge  all  this  without  derogation,  as  you 
imagine,  to  the  sublime  and  divine  functions  of  the 
indwelling  "  spiritual "  power,  why  this  rabid,  this,  I 
might  almost  say,  puerile  (if  I  ought  not  rather  to  say 
fanatical),  hatred  of  the  very  notion  of  a  "  book-revela- 
tion "  ? 

Let  us  confess  that,  if  a  revelation  be  possible  at  all, 
it  cannot  be  more  worthy  of  God  to  give  one  even  from 
"  t(;i7/im,"  than  in  such  a  shape  as  a  "book";  since 
without  a  "  BOOK  "  man  remains <an  idolater,  in  spite  of 


304  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

his  fine  "  spiritual  faculties/'  and  a  barbarian,  in  spite 
of  his  sublime  intellect ;  in  fact,  not  much  better  than 
the  beasts,  in  spite  of  all  those  noble  capacities  which, 
r^\\. hough  they  are  in  him,  are  as  it  were  hopelessly 
~r/  locked  up  till  he  has  obtained  this  key  to  theur  treas- 
ures. 

Nor  do  I  think  that  the  invectives  of  the  modem 
spiritualists  on  this  point  are  particularly  becoming, 
when  we  reflect  not  only  that  they  freely  give  mankind 
what  Harrington  declares  to  be  to  him,  and  I  must  say 
are  equally  to  me,  their  "  book-revelations,"  but  in  very 
deed,  as  he  truly  affirms,  have  given  us  nothing  else. 
It  has  been  much  the  same  with  all  who  have  rejected 
historical  Christianity,  from  Lord  Herbert's  time  down- 
wards. 

I  paused,  and  Fellowes  mused.  At  last  he  said,  "  I 
cannot  feel  convinced  that  the  *  absolute  religion '  is  not 
(as  Mr.  Parker  says)  essentially  the  same  in  all  men, 
and  internally  revealed.  The  want  exists  in  all,  and 
there  must,  according  to  the  arrangements  of  universal 
nature,  be  the  supply  ;  just  as  the  eye  is  for  the  light, 
and  the  light  is  for  the  eye.  As  he  says,  *  we  feel  in- 
stinctively it  must  be  so.'  " 

"  Unhappily,"  said  Harrington,  "  Mr.  Parker  says 
that  many  things  must  be  which  we  find  are  not,  and 
this  among  the  number.  At  least  I,  for  one,  shall  not 
I  grant  that  the  sort  of  spiritual '  supply  '  which  is  given 
\  to  the  Calmuck,  or  the  savage  *  besmeared  with  the 
blood  of  human  sacrifices,'  at  all  resembles  that  uniform 
light  which  is  made  for  all  people's  eyes." 

Fellowes  seemed  still  perplexed  with  his  old  diffi- 
culty. "  I  cannot  help  thinking,"  he  began  again,  "that 
the  '  spuritual  faculty '  acts  by  immediate  '  insight,'  and 
has  nothing  to  do  with  logical  processes'   or  *intel- 


ON    A    BOOK-REVELATION. 


305 


lectual  propositions,'  or  the  sensational  or  the  imagina- 
tive parts  of 'our  nature;  that  it  'gazes  immediately 
upon  spiritual  truth.'  Now  in  the  argument  you  have 
constructed,  you  have  expressly  implied  the  contrary. 
You  have  said,  you  know,  that,  even  if  you  granted 
men  to  be  in  possession  of  "  spiritual  and  moral  truth,' 
there  might  still  be  large  space  for  a  divinely  construct- 
ed book  from  the  reflex  operation  of  the  intellect,  the 
imagination,  and  so  forth,  upon  the  products  of  the 
spiritual  faculty;  both  directly,  and  also  indirectly,  in- 
asmuch as  external  influences  modify  or  stimulate 
them." 

"  But,"  said  I,  "  does  not  Mr.  Newmap  himself,  in 
the  first  part  of  his  Treatise  on  the  Soul,  admit  the  re- 
ciprocal action  of  all  these  on  the  too  plastic  spiritual 
products  ;  and  as  to  '  logical  and  intellectual  processes,* 
does  he  not  continually  employ  them  — for  his  system 
of  opinions,  though  he  will  not  allow  them  to  be  em- 
ployed against  it?  And  by  what  other  means  than 
through  the  intervention  of  your  senses^  by  which  you 
read  his  pages,  —  your  imagination^  by  which  you  seize 
his  illustrations,  —  your  intellect^  by  which  you  compre- 
hend his  arguments,  did  he  reclaim  you,  as  you  say  he 
has  done,  from  many  of  your  ancient  errors?  How 
else,  in  the  name  of  common  sense,  did  he  get  access 
to  your  soul  at  all  ?  " 

"  I  cannot  pretend  to  defend  Mr.  Newman's  con- 
sistency," said  he,  "  in  his  various  statements  on  this 
subject.  I  acknowledge  I  am  even  puzzled  to  find  out 
how  he  did  convince  me,  upon  his  hypothesis." 

"  Are  you  sure,"  said  I,  laughing,  "  that  he  ever  con- 
vinced you  at  all  ?  However,  all  your  perplexity  seems 
to  me  to  arise  from  supposing  the  spiritual  powers  of 
man  to  act  in  greater  isolation  from  his  other  powers 
than  is  conceivable  or  even  possible.     Not  apart  from 

26* 


306  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

these,  but  in  intimate  conjunction  with  them,  are  the 
functions  of  the  soul  performed.  The  divorce  between 
the  'spiritual  faculties' and  the  intellect,  which  your 
favorite,  Mr.  Newman,  has  attempted  to  effect,  is  im- 
possible. It  is  an  attempt  to  sever  phenomena  which 
coexist  in  the  unity  of  our  own  consciousness.  I  am 
bound  in  justice  to  admit,  that  there  are  others  of  our 
*  modern  spiritualists '  who  condemn  this  preposterous 
attempt  to  separate  what  God  hath  joined  so  insepa- 
rably. Even  Mr.  Newman  does  practically  contradict 
his  own  assertions  ;  and  outraged  reason  and  intellect 
have  avenged  his  wrongs  upon  them  by  deserting  him 
when  he  has  invoked  them,  and  left  him  to  express  his 
paradoxes  in  endless  perplexity  and  confusion.  But 
this  conversation  is  no  bad  preface  to  some  observa- 
tions on  this  important  fallacy,  (as  I  conceive,)  which  I 
have  appended  to  the  paper  I  have  read,  and,  with  your 
leave,  I  will  finish  with  them."  They  assented,  and  I 
proceeded. 

It  is  very  common  for  philosophers,  spiritual  and 
otherwise,  to  be  guilty  of  two  opposite  errors,  both  ex- 
posed in  the  first  book  of  the  Novum  Organum.  One 
is,  that  of  supposing  the  phenomena  which  they  have  to 
analyze  more  simple,  more  capable  of  being  reduced  to 
some  one  principle,  than  is  really  the  case  ;  the  other, 
that  of  introducing  a  cumbrous  complexity  of  operations 
unknown  to  nature.  It  is  unnecessary  here  to  adduce 
examples  of  the  last;  quite  as  frequently,  at  least,  is 
man  apt  to  be  guilty  of  the  first.  He  imagines  that  the 
complex  and  generally  deeply  convoluted  phenomena 
he  is  called  to  investigate  are  capable  of  being  more 
summarily  analyzed  than  they  can  be.  The  ends  to  be 
answered  in  nature  by  the  same  set  of  instruments  are 
in  many  cases  so  various,  and  in  some  respects  so  limit 


ON  A  PREVAILING  FALLACY.  307 

and  traverse  one  another,  that  though  the  same  mul- 
tiplicity of  ends  is  attained  more  completely,  and  in 
higher  aggregate  perfection,  than  by  any  device  which 
man's  ingenuity  could  substitute  for  them,  yet  those 
instruments  are  necessarily  very  complex  at  the  best. 
Look,  for  example,  at  the  system  of  organs  by  which, 
variously  employed,  we  utter  the  infinite  variety  of  ar- 
ticulate sounds,  perform  the  most  necessary  of  all  vital 
functions  (that  of  respiration),  masticate  solid  food, 
and  swallow  fluids.  The  miracle  is,  that  any  one  set 
of  organs  in  any  conceivable  juxtaposition  should  suf- 
fice to  discharge  with  such  amazing  facility  and  rapid- 
ity these  different  and  rapidly  alternated  functions; 
yet  I  suppose  few  who  have  studied  anatomy  will 
deny,  that,  though  relatively  to  the  variety  of  purposes 
it  has  to  perform  the  apparatus  is  very  simple,  it  is 
absolutely  very  complex ;  and  that  its  parts  play  into 
one  another  with  great  facility  indeed,  but  with  endless 
intricacy. 

To  apply  these  observations  to  my  special  object. 
To  one  who  attentively  studies  man's  immaterial  anat- 
omy, much  the  same  complexity  is,  I  think,  apparent ; 
the  philosopher  is  too  apt  to  assume  it  to  be  much 
more  simple  than  it  is.  It  is  the  very  error,  as  I  con- 
ceive, into  which  some  of  you  modern  "  spiritualists  " 
fall  when  considering  the  phenomena  of  our  religious 
nature.  You  do  not  sufficiently  regard  man  as  a  com- 
plicated unity ;  you  represent,  if  you  do  not  suppose, 
the  several  capacities  of  his  nature,  —  the  different  parts 
of  it,  sensational,  emotional,  intellectual,  moral,  spirit- 
ual, —  as  set  off"  from  one  another  by  a  sharper  boun- 
dary line  than  nature  acknowledges.  They  all  work  for 
immediate  ends,  indeed ;  but  they  all  also  work  for, 
with,  ?ind  upon  each  other,  for  other  ends  than  their 
own.     Yet,  as  they  all  exist  in  one  indivisible  mind,  or 


308  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

rather  constitute  it,  they  form  one  most  intricate  ma- 
chine :  and  it  can  rarely  hzppen  that  the  particular 
phenomena  of  our  interior  nature  we  happen  to  be  in- 
vestigating do  not  involve  many  others.  Throughout 
his  book  on  the  "  Soul,"  we  find  Mr.  Newman  employ- 
ing expressions  (though  I  admit  there  are  others  which 
contradict  them)  which  imply  that  the  phenomena  of 
religion,  of  what  he  calls  "  spiritual  insight,"  may  be 
viewed  in  clearer  distinction  from  those  of  the  intellect, 
than,  as  I  conceive,  they  ever  can  be ;  and  that  a  much 
clearer  separation  can  be  effected  between  them  than 
nature  has  made  possible.  To  hear  him  sometimes 
speak,  one  would  imagine  that  the  logical,  the  moral, 
and  the  spiritual  are  held  together  by  no  vital  bond  of 
connection ;  nay,  from  some  expressions,  one  would 
think  that  the  "  logical "  faculty  had  nothing  to  do  with 
religion,  if  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  rather  to  stand  in 
the  way  of  it ;  that  the  "  intellect  "  and  the  "  spiritual 
faculty "  may  each  retire  to  its  "  vacant  interlunar 
cave,"  and  never  trouble  its  head  about  what  the  other 
is  doing.  Thus  he  says  in  one  place,  "  All  the  grounds 
of  Belief  proposed  to  the  mere  understanding  have  noth- 
inig  to  do  with  Faith  at  allP  *  In  another,  "  The  pro- 
cesses of  thought  have  nothing  to  quicken  the  conscience 
or  affect  the  soul."  f  "  How,  then,  can  the  state  of  the 
soul  be  tested  by  the  conclusion  to  which  the  intellect 
is  led  ?  "  f  And  accordingly  you  see  he  everywhere 
affirms  that  we  ought  not  to  have  any  better  or  worse 
opinion  of  any  man  for  his  "  intellectual  creed  "  ;  and 
that  "  religious  progress  "  cannot  be  "  anticipated  "  till 
intellectual  "  creeds  are  destroyed."  § 

Here  one  would  imagine  that  the  intellectual,  moral, 

*  Soul,  p.  223.  t  Ibid.  p.  245. 

X  Ibid.  p.  2  45.  §  Phases,  p.  222. 


ON  A  PREVAILING  FALLACY.  309 

and  spiritual  had  even  less  to  do  with  the  production  of 
each  other's  results  than  matter  and  mind  reciprocally 
have  with  theirs.  These  last,  we  see,  in  a  thousand 
cases  act  and  react  upon  one  another ;  and  modify  each 
other's  peculiar  products  and  operations  in  a  most  im- 
portant manner.  How  much  more  reasonably  may  we 
infer  that  the  elementary  faculties  of  the  same  indivis- 
ible mind  will  not  discharge  their  functions  without  im- 
portant reciprocal  action ;  that  in  no  case  can  we  have 
the  process  pure  and  simple  as  the  result  of  the  opera- 
tion of  a  single  faculty  ! 

If  it  were  not  so,  I  see  not  how  we  are  to  perfom^^ 
any  of  the  functions  of  a  spiritual  nature,  even  as  de- 
fined by  you  and  your  favorite  writers  ;  unless,  indeed, 
you  would  equip  the  soul  with  an  entire  Sunday  suit 
of  separate  capacities  of  reasoning,  remembering,  imag- 
ining, hoping,  rejoicing,  and  so  on,  to  be  expressly  used 
by  the  "  soul "  alone  when  engaged  in  her  spiritual 
functions ;  quite  different  from  that  old,  threadbare, 
much-worn  suit  of  faculties,  having  similar  functions 
indeed,  but  exercised  on  other  objects. 

What  can  be  more  obvious  (and  it  must  be  admitted 
that  the  most  fanatical  "spiritualist"   employs  expres- 
sions, and,  what  is  more,  uses  methods,  which  imply  it) 
than  that,  whether  we  have  a  distinct  religious  faculty 
or  whether  it  be  fhe  result  of  the  action  of  many  fac 
ulties,  the  functions  of  our  "  spiritual "  nature  are  per 
formed  by  the  instrumentality,  and  involve  the  inter- 
vention, of  the  very  same  much-abused  faculties  which 
enable  us  to  perform  any  other  function.     It  is  one  and 
the  same  indivisible  mind  which  is  the  subject  of  relig- 
ions  thought  and  emotion,  and  of  any  other  thowght  and  ; 
emotion.     Religious  truths  like  any  other  truth,  is  em- 
braced by  the  understanding  —  as  indeed  it  would  be 
a  queer  kind  of  truth  that  is  not    is  stated  in  proposi- 


310  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

tions;  yields  infarences,  is  adorned  by  eloquence,  is  il- 
lustrated by  the  imagination,  and  is  thus,  as  well  as 
from  its  intrinsic  claims,  rendered  powerful  over  the 
emotions,  the  affections,  and  the  will.  In  brief,  when 
the  soul  apprehends,  reasons,  remembers,  rejoices, 
hopes,  fears,  spiritually^  it  surely  does  not  perform  these 
functions  by  totally  different  faculties  from  those  by 
which  similar  things  are  done  on  other  occasions.  Ail 
experience  and  consciousness  are  against  the  supposi- 
tion. In  religion,  men's  minds  are  employed  on  more 
sublime  and  elevated  themes  indeed,  but  the  operations 
themselves  are  essentially  of  the  same  nature  as  in  oth- 
er cases.  Hence  we  see  the  dependence  of  the  true  de- 
velopment of  religion  on  the  just  and  harmonious  action 
of  all  our  faculties.  They  march  together ;  and  it  is 
the  glorious  prerogative  of  true  religion  that  it  makes 
them  do  so ;  that  all  the  elements  of  our  nature,  being 
indissolubly  connected,  and  perpetually  acting  and  re- 
acting on  one  another,  should  aid  one  another  and 
attain  a  more  just  conjoint  action.  If  there  be  accepta- 
hlefaith^  it  presupposes  belief  of  the  truths  as  well  as 
love  of  it  in  the  heart ;  if  there  be  holy  habit,  it  implies 
just  knoiuledge  of  duty ;  if  there  be  spiritual  emotion 
awakened,  it  will  still  be  in  accordance  with  the  laws 
which  ordinarily  produce  it ;  that  is,  because  that  which 
should  produce  it  is  perceived  by  the  senses  or  the  intel- 
lect, is  recalled  by  the  memory,  is  vivified  by  the  imag- 
ination. If  faith  and  hope  and  love  often  kindle  into 
activity,  and  hallow  these  instruments  by  which  and 
through  which  they  act,  it  is  not  the  less  true,  that, 
apart  from  these,  —  as  constituting  the  same  indivisible 
mind,  —  faith  and  hope  and  love  cannot  exist :  and  not 
only  so ;  but  whcQ  faith  is  languid,  and  hope  faint,  and 
love  expiring,  these  faculties  themselves  shall  often  in 
their  turn  initiate  the  process  which  shall  revive  them 


HISTORIC    CREDIBILITY.  311 

all;  some  outward  object,  some  incident  of  life,  some 
"magic  word,"  some  glorious  image,  some  stalwart 
truth,  suddenly  and  energetically  stated,  shall,  through 
the  medium  of  the  senses,  the  imagination,  or  the  intel- 
lect, set  the  soul  once  more  in  a  blaze,  and  revive  the 
emottons  which  it  is  at  other  times  only  their  office  to 
express.  A  sanctified  intellect,  a  hallowed  imagination, 
devout  affections,  have  a  reciprocal  tendency  to  stimu- 
late each  other.  In  whatever  faculty  of  our  nature  the 
stimulus  may  be  felt,  —  in  the  intellect  or  the  imagina- 
tion,—  it  is  thence  propagated  through  the  mysterious 
net-work  of  the  soul  to  the  emotions,  the  affections,  the 
conscience,  the  will:  or,  conversely,  these  last  may 
commence  the  movement  and  propagate  it  in  reverse 
order.  Each  may  become  in  turn  a  centre  of  influence ; 
but  so  indivisible  is  the  soul  and  mind  of  man,  so  indis- 
solubly  bound  together  the  elements  which  constitute 
them,  that  the  influence  once  commenced  never  stops 
where  it  began,  but  acts  upon  them  all;  The  ripple,  as 
that  of  a  stone  dropped  into  still  water,  no  matter 
where,  may  be  fainter  and  fainter  the  farther  from  the 
spot  where  the  commotion  began,  but  it  will  stop  only 
with  the  bank.  Ordinarily  many  functions  of  the  mind 
are  involved  in  each,  and  sometimes  all  in  one. 


Juhj  24.  Yesterday,  a  somewhat  interesting  conver- 
sation took  place  between  Harrington  and  Edward 
Robinson,  a  youth  at  college,  a  friend  of  George  Fel- 
lowes's  family.  He  is  a  devout  admirer  of  Strauss^  and 
thinks  that  writer  has  completely  destroyed  the  histori- 
cal character  of  the  Gospels.  I  was,  as  usual,  struck 
with  the  candor  and  logical  consistency  with  which  our 
sceptic  was  disposed  to  regard  the  subject. 

"  You  have  Lingard  and  Macaulay  here,  I  see,"  said 


312  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

young  Robinson.     "  I  need  hardly  ask,  I  think,  which 
you  find  the  most  pleasant  reading  ?  " 

"  You  need  not,  indeed,"  cried  Harrington.  "  Mr. 
Macaulay  is  so  superior  to  the  Roman  Catholic  histo- 
rian (though  his  merits  are  great  too)  in  genius,  in  elo- 
quence, in  variety  and  amplitude  of  knowledge,  iii  im- 
agination, in  style,  that  there  is  no  comparison  between 
hem." 

"  And  do  you  think  Mr.  Macaulay  as  accurate  as  he 
is  full  of  genius  and  eloquence  ?  " 

"  If  he  be  wo/,"  said  Harrington,  laughing,  "  I  am 
afraid  there  are  very  few  of  us  deeply  versed  enough 
in  history  to  detect  his  delinquencies,  or  even  to  say 
whether  they  have  been  committed.  There  may  be,  for 
aught  I  know,  some  cases  (of  infinite  importance  of 
course)  in  which  he  has  represented  an  event  as  having 
taken  place  on  the  20th  of  Dec.  1693 ;  whereas  it  took 
place  on  the  3d  Jan.  1694 ;  or  he  may  have  said  that 
Sir  Thomas  Nobody  was  the  son  of  another  Sir  Thomas 
Nobody,  whereas  two  or  three  antiquarians  can  incon- 
testably  prove  that  he  was  the  son  of  Sir  John  Nobody, 
and  nephew  of  the  above.  To  me,  I  confess,  he  ap- 
pears distinguished  scarcely  more  by  the  splendor  of  his 
imagination  than  by  the  opulence  of  his  knowledge, 
and  the  imperial  command  which  he  possesses  over  it. 
But,  in  truth,  the  accuracy  or  otherwise  of  history, 
when  it  is  at  all  remote,  is  a  matter  in  which  I  feel  less 
interest  than  I  once  did.  I  read,  indeed,  Mr.  Macaulay 
with  perpetual  renewal  of  wonder  and  delight.  But 
though  I  believe  that  his  vivid  pictures  are  the  result  of 
a  faithful  use  of  his  materials,  yet,  if  I  must  confess  the 
full  extent  of  my  scepticism,  Ids  work,  and  every  other 
work  which  involves  a  reference  to  events  which  tran- 
spired only  a  century  or  two  ago,  is  poisoned  as  history 
by  the  suspicion  that  to  ascertain  the  truth  is  impos- 


HISTORIC    CREDIBILITY.  313 

sible.  I  know  it  must  be  so,  if  the  principles  of  your 
favorite  Strauss  are  to  be  received  ;  and  yet  it  seems  so 
absurd,  that  I  am  sometimes  inclined,  on  that  account 
alone,  to  laugh  at  Strauss's  criticisms,  just  as  David 
Hume  did  at  his  own  speculative  doubts  when  he  got 
into  society  and  sat  down  to  backgammon  with  a  friend. 
At  other  times,  as  I  say,  the  whole  field  of  historic  in- 
vestigation seems  more  or  less  the  territory  of  scepti- 
cism.'^ 

"  I  know  not,"  said  the  other,  "  how  you  can  justify 
any  such  general  scepticism  from  any  thing  that  Strauss 
has  written." 

"  Do  you  not  ?  and  yet  I  think  it  is  a  perfectly  legiti- 
mate inference.     Does  not  Strauss  argue  that  certain 
discrepancies  are  to  be  observed,  certain  apparent  con-  ; 
tradictions  and   inconsistencies-  detected,  in  the  New  \ 
Testament  narratives;    and  that   therefore  we  are  to    j 
reckon,  if  not   the  whole,  yet   by  far  the  larger    part, 
as  utterly  fabulous   or  doubtful,  mythic  or  legendary  ? 
Now,  I  cannot  but  feel,  on  the  other  hand,  that  these 
narratives  are  as  strikingly  marked  by  all  the  usual  in- 
dications of  historic  truthfulness  as  any  historic  writings 
in  the  world.     The  artlessness,  simplicity,  and  speciality  \ 
of  the  narrative,  —  a  certain  inimitable  tone  and  air  of      * 
reality,  earnestness,  and  candor,  —  the  general  harmony 
of  these  so-called  sacred  writers  with  themselves  and 
with  profane  authors  (quite  as  general,  to  say  the  least, 
as  usually  distinguishes   other  narratives   by  different 
hands),  —  above  all,  the  long-concealed,  and  yet  most 
numerous  *  coincidences '  which  lie   deep  beneath  the 
surface,   and  which   only   a  very   industrious   mining 
brings  to  light;  coincidences  which,  if  ingenuity  had 
been  subtle  enough  to  fabricate,  that  same  ingenuity 
would  have   been   too   sagacious   to  conceal  so  deep, 
and  which  are  too  numerous  and  striking  (one  would 


314  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

imagine)  to  be  the  effect  of  accident ;  —  all  these  things, 
I  say,  would  seem  to  argue  (if  any  thing  can)  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  narrative.  Yet  all  these  things  must 
necessarily,  of  course,  go  for  nothing,  on  Strauss's 
hypothesis.  There  are,  you  say,  certain  discrepancies, 
and  from  them  you  proceed  to  conclude  that  the  narra- 
tive is  uncertain,  and  unworthy  of  credit;  that,  if  there 
be  a  residuum  of  truth  at  all,  no  man  can  know  with 
any  certainty  what  or  how  much  it  is.  We  must  there- 
fore leave  the  whole  problematical.  Now  the  question 
comes,  whether  we  must  not  in  consistency  apply  the 
same  principle  further;  and,  if  so,  whether  we  can  find 
in  any  history  whatever  stronger  marks  of  credibility  ; 
whether  any  was  ever  submitted  to  an  examination 
more  severe,  or  so  severe ;  whether  any  can  boast  of  a 
arger  number  of  minds,  of  the  first  order,  giving  their 
assent  to  it." 

"  Let  me  stop  you  there,"  said  the  other ;  "  you  must 
consider  that  those  minds  were  prejudiced  in  favor  of 
the  conclusion.  They  were  inclined  to  believe  the 
supernatural  wonders  which  these  pretended  historians 
retail." 

"  How  differently  men  may  argue  with  the  same  prem- 
ises !  I  was  about  to  mention  the  suspicion  attaching 
to  miraculous  narratives,  as  attesting  (I  still  think  so, 
notwithstanding  your  observation)  that  stress  and  press- 
ure of  supposed  historic  credibility  under  which  so  many 
powerful  minds  —  minds  many  of  them  of  the  first 
order  —  have  felt  themselves  compelled  to  receive  these 
histories  as  true,  in  spite  of  such  obstacles.  Surely, 
you  do  not  think  that  a  miracle  is  in  our  age,  or  has 
been  for  many  ages,  an  antecedent  ground  of  credibil- 
ity ;  or  that  if  a  history  does  not  contain  enough  of 
them,  as  this  assuredly  does,  it  is  certain  to  be  believed. 
No  ;  do  not  you  with  Strauss  contend  that  a  miracle  is 


HISTORIC    CREDIBILITY.  315 

not  to  be  believed  at  all,  because  it  contradicts  uniform 
experience?  And  yet  thousands  of  powerful  minds 
have  believed  the  truth  of  these  historic  records  against 
all  this  uniform  experience  !  Their  prejudices  against 
it  must  surely  have  been  stronger  than  those  for  it.  — 
But  to  resume  the  statement  of  my  difficulties.  I  say 
the  question  returns  whether  there  is  any  history  in  the 
world  which  either  presents  in  itself  gveQ.tev  marks  of 
historic  credibility,  or  in  which  as  numerous  and  equal- 
ly inexplicable  discrepancies  cannot  be  discovered.  If 
there  be  none,  then  how  far  shall  we  adopt  and  carry 
out  the  principles  of  Strauss  ?  for  if  we  carry  them  out 
with  rigid  equity,  the  whold  field  of  history  is  aban- 
doned to  scepticism  :  it  is  henceforth  the  domain  of 
doubt  and  contention ;  as,  in  truth,  a  very  large  part  of 
it  in  Germany  has  already  become,  in  virtue  of  these 
very  principles.  Much  of  profane  history  is  abandoned, 
as  well  as  the  sacred ;  and  Homer  becomes  as  much  a 
shadow  as  Christ." 

"  You  seem,"  said  Robinson,  "  to  be  almost  in  the 
condition  to  entertain  Dr.  Whately's  ingenious  '  His- 
toric Doubts '  touching  the  existence  of  Napoleon  Bo- 
naparte I "  * 

"  I  believe  that  it  is  simply  our  proximity  to  the 
events  which  renders  it  difficult  to  entertain  them.  If 
the  injuries  of  time  and  the  caprice  of  fortune  should  in 
the  remote  future  leave  as  large  gaps  in  the  evidence, 
and  as  large  scope  for  ingenious  plausibilities,  as  in  re- 
lation to  the  remote  past,  I  believe  multitudes  would 
find  no  difficulty  in  entertaining  those  '  doubts.'  They 
seem  to  me  perfectly  well  argued,  and  absolutely  con- 
clusive on  the  historic  canons  on  which  Strauss's  work 
is  constructed,  —  namely,  that  if  you  find  what  seem 

*  Are  the  ingenious  "  Historic  Certainties,"  bj  "  Aristar  hus  Newlight " 
from  the  same  admirable  mint  ?  —  Ed. 


816 


THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 


discrepancies  and  improbabilities  in  a  reputed  history, 
the  mass  of  that  historic  texture  in  which  they  are 
found  may  be  regarded  as  mythical  or  fabulous,  doubt- 
ful or  false.  If  you  say  the  principles  of  Strauss  are 
false,  that  is  another  matter.  I  shall  not  think  it  worth 
while  to  contest  their  truth  or  their  falsehood  with  you. 
But  if  you  adhere  to  them,  I  will  take  the  liberty  of 
1  showing  you  that  you  do  not  hold  them  consistently,  if 
\you  think  any  remote  history  is  to  be  regarded  as  abso- 
lutely placed  beyond  doubt." 

"  Well,  if  you  will  be  grave,"  said  Robinson, "  though, 
upon  my  word,  I  thought  you  in  jest,  —  is  it  possible 
that  you  do  not  see  that  there  is  a  vast  difference  be- 
tween rejecting,  on  the  same  ground  of  discrepancies^  the 
credibility  of  the  narratives  of  the  Gospel,  and  that  of 
any  common  history  ?  " 

"  I  must  honestly  confess,  then,  that  I  do  not,  if  the 
discrepancies^  as  Strauss  alleges,  and  not  something 
else,  is  to  be  assigned  as  the  cause  of  their  rejection. 
If,  indeed,  like  some  criminals  under  despotic  govern- 
ments, they  are  apprehended  and  convicted  on  a  certain 
charge,  but  really  hanged  for  an  entirely  different  rea- 
son, I  can  understand  that  there  may  be  policy  in  the 
proceeding ;  but  I  do  not  comprehend  its  argumentative 
honesty.  Be  pleased,  therefore,  (that  I  may  form  some 
conclusion,)  to  tell  me  what  are  those  circumstances 
which  so  wonderfully  discriminate  the  discrepancies  in 
the  New  Testament  histories  from  those  in  other  his- 
tories, as  that  the  inevitable  consequence  of  finding  a 
certain  amount  of  discrepancies  in  the  former  leads  to 
the  rejection  of  the  entire,  or  nearly  entire,  documents 
in  which  they  are  found,  while  their  presence  in  other 
histories  even  to  a  far  greater  extent  shall  not  authorize 
their  rejection  at  all,  or  the  rejection  only  of  the  parts 
in  which  the  discrepancies  are  found.  And  yet  I  think 
I  can  guess." 


HISTORIC    CREDIBILITY.  317. 

"  Well,  what  do  you  guess  ?  " 

"  That  you  think  that  the  miraculous  nature  of  the 
events  which  form  a  portion  of  the  New  Testament 
history  makes  a  great  difference  in  the  case." 

"  And  do  not  you  ?  " 

"  I  cannot  say  I  do ;  for  though  it  is  doubtless 
Strauss's  principal  object  to  get  rid  of  these  miracles^  it 
is  not  as  miracles^  but  as  history,  that  his  canons  of 
historic  criticism  are  applied  to  them.  It  is  as  history 
that  he  attacks  the  books  in  which  they  are  contained. 
His  weapons  are  directed  against  the  miracles,  indeed  ; 
but  it  is  only  by  piercing  the  history,  with  which  alone 
the  supposed  discrepancies  had  any  thing  to  do." 

"  But  I  cannot  conceive  that  the  historic  discrepan- 
cies occurring  in  connection  with  such  topics  must  not 
have  more  weight  attached  to  them  than  if  they  oc- 
curred in  any  other  history." 

"  This  is  because  you  have  already  resolved  that 
miracles  are  impossible  on  totally  different  grounds. 
But  you  may  see  the  fallacy  in  a  moment.  Talk  with 
a  man  who  does  not  believe  miracles  a  priori  impossi- 
ble, and  that,  though  of  course  improbable  (otherwise 
they  would  be  none,  I  suppose),  the  authentication  of 
a  divine  revelation  is  a  sufficient  reason  for  their  being 
wrought,  and  he  evades  your  argument.  You  are 
then  compelled,  you  see,  to  throw  yourself  exclusively 
upon  the  alleged  historic  discrepancies;  they  become 
your  sole  weapon ;  and  if  it  pierces  the  New  Testament 
history,  I  want  to  know  whether  it  does  not  equally 
pierce  all  other  remote  history  too  ?  In  truth,  if,  as  you 
and  Mr.  Fellowes  agree,  —  I  only  doubt,  —  a  miracle  is 
impossible,  nothing  can  (as  I  think)  be  more  strange, 
than  that,  instead  of  reposing  in  that  simple  fact,  which 
you  say  is  demonstrable,  you  should  fly  to  historic 
proofs." 

S7* 


^18 


THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 


\ 


"  And  do  you  not  think  that  miracles  are  impossible 
and  absurd  ?  " 

"  I  think  nothing,  because,  as  I  told  Fellowes  the 
other  day,  I  am  half  inclined  to  doubt  whether  I  doubt 
whether  a  miracle  is  possible  or  not,  like  a  genuine 
sceptic  as  I  am.  And  this  doubt,  you  see,  even  of  a 
doubt,  makes  me  cautious.  But  to  resume.  If  that 
principle  be  sound,  it  seems  much  more  natural  to  ad- 
here to  it  than  to  attack  the  Gospels  as  history.  Strauss, 
however,  has  thought  otherwise ;  and  while  he  has  left 
this  main  dictum  unproved,  —  nay,  has  not  even  at- 
tempted a  proof  of  it,  —  he  has  endeavored  to  shake 
the  historic  character  of  these  records,  treating  them 
like  any  other  records.  I  say,  therefore,  that  to  adduce 
the  circumstance  that  the  narrative  is  miraculous,  is 
nothing  to  the  purpose,  until  the  impossibility  of  miracles 
is  proved ;  and  then,  when  this  is  proved,  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  adduce  the  discrepancies.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
a  man  has  no  difficulty  (as  the  Christian,  for  example) 
in  believing  miracles  to  be  possible,  and  that  they  have 
really  occurred,  Strauss's  argument,  as  I  have  said,  is 
j^vaded  ;  and  the  seeming  discrepancies  can  do  no  more 

/against  the  credibility  of  the  New  Testament  history, 
than  equal  discrepancies  can  prove  against  any  other 

I  document.  I  will,  if  possible,  make  my  meaning  plain 
by  yet  another  example.  Let  us  suppose  some  Walter 
Scott  had  compiled  some  purely  fictitious  history,  pro- 
fessedly laid  in  the  Middle  Ages  (and  surely  even  mirac- 
ulous occurrences  cannot  be  more  unreal  than  these 
products  of  sheer  imagination)  ;  and  suppose  some 
critic  had  engaged  to  prove  it  fiction  from  internal  evi- 
dence supplied  by  contradictions  and  discrepancies, 
and  so  on,  would  you  not  think  it  strange  if  he  were  to 
enforce  that  argument  by  saying,  *  And  besides  all  this, 
what  is  "nore  suspicious  is,  that  they  occur  in  a  work 


HISTORIC    CREDIBILITY.  319 

of  imagination  I '  Would  you  not  say,  *  Learned  sir, 
we  humbly  thought  this  was  the  point  you  were  en- 
gaged in  making  out  ?  Is  it  not  to  assume  the  very 
point  in  debate  ?  And  if  it  be  true,  would  it  not  be 
better  to  stop  there  at  once,  instead  of  taking  us  so  cir- 
cuitous a  road  to  the  same  result,  which  we  perceive 
you  had  already  reached  beforehand  ?  Are  you  not  a 
little  like  that  worthy  Mayor  who  told  Henri  Quatre 
that  he  had  nineteen  good  reasons  for  omitting  to  fire 
a  salute  on  his  Majesty's  arrival;  the  first  of  which 
was,  that  he  had  no  artillery;  whereupon  his  Majesty 
graciously  told  him  that  he  might  spare  the  remaining 
eighteen?  '  So  I  should  say  in  the  supposed  case.  —  To 
return,  then :  you  must,  if  you  would  consider  the  va- 
lidity of  Strauss's  argument,  lay  aside  the  miraculous 
objection,  which  must  be  decided  on  quite  different 
grounds,  and  which,  in  fact,  if  valid,  settles  the  contro- 
versy without  his  critical  aid.  All  who  read  Strauss's 
book  either  believe  that  miracles  are  impossible,  or 
not ;  the  former  need  not  his  criticisms,  —  they  have  al- 
ready arrived  at  the  result  by  a  shorter  road ;  the  latter 
can  only  reject  the  history  by  supposing  the  discrepan- 
cies in  it,  as  history,  justify  them.  I  ask  you,  then, 
supposing  you  one  who,  like  the  Christian,  believes 
miracles  possible,  whether  these  historic  discrepancies 
would  justify  you  in  saying  that  the  New  Testament 
records,  considered  simply  as  history,  no  longer  deserve 
credit,  and  that  you  are  left  in  absolute  ignorance  how 
much  of  them,  or  whether  any  part,  is  to  be  received,  — 
ay  or  no  ?  " 

"  Well,  then,  I  should  say  that  Strauss  has  shown 
that  the  history,  as  history^  is  to  be  rejected." 

"  Very  well ;  only  then  do  not  be  surprised  that,  in 
virtue  of  such  conclusions,  I  doubt  whethei  you  ought 
not  to  push  the  principle  a  little  further,  and  contend 


320  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

that,  as  there  are  no  writings  in  the  world  which  seem 
to  bear  more  marks  of  historic  sincerity  and  trustwor- 
thiness, and  certainly  none  of  any  magnitude  or  variety 
in  which  far  greater  discrepancies  are  not  to  be  found, 
it  is  doubtful  whether  we  can  receive  any  thing  as  ab- 
solutely veritable  history ;  and  that  the  Book  of  Gen- 
esis, and  Gospel  of  Luke,  and  History  of  Lingard,  and 
History  of  Hume,  are  alike  covered  with  a  mist  of 
sceptical  obscurity." 

"  But  really,  Mr.  Harrington,  this  is  absurd  and  pre- 
posterous ! " 

"  It  may  be  so ;  but  you  ifiust  prove  it,  and  not  sim- 
ply content  yourself  with  affirming  it.  I  am,  at  all 
events,  more  consistent  than  you,  who  tell  the  man  who 
does  not  see  your  a  priori  objection  to  the  belief  of 
miracles,  that  a  history  which  certainly  contains  as 
many  marks  of  historic  veracity  as  any  history  in  the 
world,  and  discrepancies  neither  greater  nor  more  nu- 
merous, must  be  reduced  (ninety-nine  hundredths  of 
it)  to  myth  on  account  of  those  discrepancies,  while  the 
others  may  still  legitimate  their  claims  to  be  considered 
as  genuine  history !  Your  only  escape,  as  I  conceive, 
from  this  dilemma,  is,  by  saying  that  the  marks  of  his- 
toric truth  in  the  New  Testament,  looked  at  as  mere 
history^  are  not  so  great  as  those  of  other  histories,  or 
that  the  discrepancies  are  greater;  and  I  think  even 
you  will  not  venture  to  assert  that.  But  if  you  do,  and 
choose  to  put  it  on  that  issue,  I  shall  be  most  happy  to 
try  the  criterion  by  examining  Luke  and  Paul,  Mat- 
thew and  Mark,  on  the  one  side ;  and  Clarendon  and 
May,  or  Hume,  Lingard,  and  Macaulay,  on  the  other; 
or,  if  you  prefer  them,  Livy  and  Polybius,  or  Tacitus 
and  Josephus." 

"  But  I  have  bethought  me  of  another  answer,"  said 
Robinson.     "  Suppose  the  sacred  writers   affirm  that 


tflftTDllia   CREDIBILITY.'"  321 

every  syllable  they  utter  is  infallibly  true,  being  in- 
spired ?  " 

"  Why,  then,"  said  Harrington,  "  first,  you  must  find 
such  a  passage,  which  many  say  you  cannot ;  secondly, 
you  must  find  one  which  says  that  every  syllable  would 
remain  always  infallibly  true,  in  spite  of  all  errors  of 
transcription  and  corruptions  of  time,  otherwise  your 
discrepancies  will  not  touch  the  writers  ;  and  lastly,  it 
does  not  affect  my  argument  wJiether  you  find  any 
such  absurdities  or  not,  since  you  and  I  would  know 
what  to  say,  though  the  Christian  would  not  like  to 
say  it ;  namely,  that  these  writers  were  mistaken  in  the 
notion  of  their  plenary  inspiration.  It  would  still  leave 
the  mass  of  their  history  to  be  dealt  with  like  any  other 
history.  Now  I  want  to  know  why,  if  I  reject  the  mass 
of  that  on  the  ground  of  certain  discrepancies,  I  must 
not  reject  the  mass  of  this  on  the  score  of  equal  or 
greater." 

After  a  few  minutes  Harrington  turned  to  Fellowes 
and  said,  — "  That  in  relation  to  the  bulk  of  mankind 
there  can  be  no  authentic  history  of  remote  events 
plainly  appears  from  a  statement  of  Mr.  Newman.  He 
says,  you  know,  after  having  relinquished  the  investi- 
gation of  the  evidences  of  Christianity,  that  he  might 
have  spared  much  weary  thought  and  useless  labor,  if, 
at  an  earlier  time,  this  simple  truth  had  been  pressed 
upon  him,  that  since  the  *  poor  and  half-educated  can- 
not investigate  historical  and  xiterary  questions,  there- 
fore these  questions  cannot  constitute  an  essential  part 
of  religion.'  You,  if  you  recollect,  mentioned  it  to  my 
uncle  the  other  night ;  and,  in  spite  of  what  he  replied, 
it  does  appear  a  weighty  objection ;  on  the  other  hand, 
if  I  admit  it  to  be  conclusive,  I  seem  to  be  driven  to 
the  most  paradoxical  conclusions,  at  direct  variance 
with  the  experience  of  all  mankind,  —  at  least  so  they 


322  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

say.     Foi  why  cannot  an  historical  fact  constitute  any 
part  of  a  religion  ?  " 

"  Because,  as  IVIr.  Newman  says,  it  is  impossible  that 
the  bulk  of  people  can  have  any  certainty  in  relation  to 
such  remote  facts  of  history,"  said  Fellowcs. 

"  And,  therefore,  in  relation  to  any  other  remote  his- 
tory ;  for  if  the  bulk  of  men  cannot  obtain  certainty  on 
such  historical  questions,  neither  can  they  obtain  cer- 
tainty on  other  historical  questions." 

"  Perhaps  not ;  but  then  what  does  it  matter^  in  that 
case,  whether  they  can  obtain  certainty  or  not  ?  " 

"I  am  not  talking — I  am  not  thinking — as  to 
whether  it  would  matter  or  not.  I  merely  remark  that, 
in  relation  to  the  generality  of  people,  at  all  events, 
they  cannot  obtain  certainty  on  any  remote  historical 
questions.  Of  course,  with  regard  to  ordinary  history, 
it  is  neither  a  man's  duty,  strictly  speaking,  to  believe 
or  disbelieve  ;  and  therefore  I  said  nothing  about  duty. 
But  in  neither  the  one  case  nor  the  other  is  it  possible 
for  the  bulk  of  mankind  to  obtain  satisfaction,  from  a 
personal  investigation,  as  to  the  facts  of  remote  historj 
or  indeed  any  history  at  all,  except  of  a  man's  own  life 
and  that  perhaps  of  his  own  family,  up  to  his  father 
and  down  to  his  son  I  What  do  you  say  to  this,  —  yes 
or  no  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  know  that  I  should  object  to  say  that  the 
great  bulk  of  mankind  never  can  obtain  a  sufficiently 
certain  knowledge  of  any  fact  of  history  to  warrant- 
their  belief  of  it." 

"  Very  consistent,  I  think ;  for  you  doubtless  per- 
ceive that  if  we  say  they  can  obtain  a  reasonable  ground 
of  assurance  of  the  facts  of  remote  history,  —  so  that,  if 
any  thing  did  or  does  depend  on  their  believing  it,  they 
are  truly  in  possession  of  a  warrant  for  acting  on  that 
belief,  —  I  say  you  then  see  whither  our  argument,  Mr. 


HISTORIC    CREDIBILITY.  323 

Newman's  and  yoiir's  and  mine,  is  going;  it  vanishes, 
—  oixerai,  as  Socrates  would  say.  If,  for  example,  men 
can  attain  reasonable  certainty  in  relation  to  Alfred 
and  Cromwell,  alas !  they  may  do  the  like  in  reference 
to  Christ ;  and  many  persons  will  say  much  more  ea- 
sily. Now,  with  my  too  habitual  scepticism,  I  confess 
to  a  feeling  of  difficulty  here.  You  know  there  are 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  amongst  us,  who,  if 
asked  respecting  the  history  of  Alfred  the  Great  or 
Oliver  Cromwell,  would  glibly  repeat  to  you  all  the 
principal  facts  of  the  story,  —  as  they  suppose;  and  if 
you  ask  them  whether  they  have  ever  investigated 
critically  the  sources  whence  they  had  obtained  their 
knowledge,  they  will  say.  No ;  but  that  they  have  read 
the  things  in  Hume's  History ;  or,  perhaps,  (save  the 
mark!)  in  Goldsmith's  Abridgment!  But  they  are  pro- 
foundly ignorant  of  even  the  names  of  the  principal  au- 
thorities, and  have  never  investigated  one  of  the  many 
doubtful  points  which  have  perplexed  historians ;  nay, 
as  to  most  of  them,  are  not  even  aware  that  they  exist. 
Yet  nothing  can  be  more  certain,  than  that  their  sup- 
posed knowledge  would  embrace  by  far  the  most  im- 
portant conclusions  at  which  the  most  accurate  histori- 
ans have  arrived.  It  would  be  principally  in  a  supposed 
juster  comprehension  of  minor  points — of  details  — 
that  the  latter  would  have  an  advantage  over  them  ; 
compensated,  however,  by  a  *  plentiful  assortment '  of 
doubts  on  other  points,  from  which  these  simple  souls 
are  free  ;  doubts  which  are  the  direct  result  of  more  ex- 
tensive investigation,  but  which  can  scarcely  be  thought 
additions  to  our  knowledge; — they  are  rather  addi- 
tions to  our  ignorance.  The  impressions  of  the  mass 
of  readers  on  all  the  main  facts  of  the  two  memorable 
periods  respectively  would  be  the  same  as  those  of  more 
accurate  critics.     Now  what  I  want  to  know  is,  whether 


324  THE   ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

you  would  admit  that  these  superficial  inquirers  —  the 
bulk  of  your  decent  countrymen,  recollect  —  can  be  said 
to  have  an  intelligent  belief  in  any  such  history ;  whether 
you  think  them  justified  in  saying  that  they  are  certain 
of  the  substantial  accuracy  of  their  impressions,  and 
that  they  may  laugh  in  your  face  (which  they  assuredly 
would  do)  if  you  told  them  that  it  is  possible  that  Al- 
fred may  have  existed,  and  been  a  wise  and  patriotic 
prince ;  and  that  probably  Oliver  Cromwell  was  Pro- 
tector of  England,  and  died  in  1658 ;  but  that  really 
they  know  nothing  about  the  matter." 

"  Of  course  they  would  affirm  that  they  are  as  assured 
of  the  substantial  accuracy  of  their  impressions  as  of 
their  own  existence,"  replied  Fellowes. 

"  But  what  answer  do  you  think  they  ought  to  give, 
my  friend?  Do  you  think  that  they  can  affirm  a  rea- 
sonable ground  of  belief  in  these  things  ?  " 

"  I  confess  I  think  they  can." 

"  Ah !  then  I  fear  you  are  grossly  inconsistent  with 
Mr.  Newman's  principles,  and  must  so  far  distrust  his 
argument  against  historic  religion.  If  you  think  that 
this  ready  assent  to  remote  historic  events  may  pass 
for  a  reasonable  conviction  and  an  intelligent  belief,  I 
cannot  see  why  it  should  be  more  difficult  to  attain  a 
.similar  confidence  in  the  general  results  of  a  religious 
I  history ;  and  in  that  case  it  may  also  become  men's  duty 
T^to  act  upon  that  belief.  On  the  other  hand,  if  it  be  not 
possible  to  obtain  this  degree  of  satisfaction  in  the  latter 
case,  neither  for  similar  reasons  will  it  be  in  the  former. 
If  you  hold  Mr.  Newman's  principles  consistently,  seeing 
that  neither  in  the  one  case  nor  the  other  can  the  bulk 
of  mankind  attain  that  sort  of  critical  knowledge  which 
he  supposes  necessary  to  certainty,  you  ought  to  deny 
that  any  common  man  has  any  business  to  say  that  he 
believes  that  he  is  certain  of  the  main  facts  in  the  his- 
tory either  of  Alfred  or  Cromwell." 


A    KNOTTY    POINT.  325 

"  You  do  not  surely  mean  to  compare  the  impor- 
tance of  a  belief  in  the  one  case  with  the  importance 
of  a  belief  in  the  other  ?  "  rejoined  Fellowes. 

"  I  do  not;  and  can  as  little  disguise  from  myself 
that  such  a  question  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  matter. 
The  duty  in  the  one  case  depends  entirely  on  the  nues- 
tion  whether  such  a  conviction  of  the  accuracy  of  the 
main  facts  and  more  memorable  events,  as  may  pass 
for  moral  certainty,  and  justify  its  language  and  acts, 
be  possible  or  not.  If,  from  a  want  of  capacity  and 
opportunity  for  a  thorough  investigation  of  all  the  con- 
ditions of  the  problem,  it  be  not  in  the  one  case,  neither 
will  it  be  in  the  other.  If  this  be  a  fallacy,  be  pleased 
to  prove  it  such,  —  I  shall  not  be  sorry  to  have  it  so 
proved.  But  at  present  you  seem  to  me  grossly  incon- 
sistent in  this  matter.  I  have  also  my  doubts  (to  speak 
frankly)  whether  we  must  not  apply  Mr.  Newman's 
principle  (to  the  great  relief  of  mankind)  in  other  most 
momentous  questions,  in  which  the  notion  of  duty  can- 
not be  excluded,  but  enters  as  an  essential  element.  I 
cannot  help  fancying,  that,  if  his  principle  be  true,  man- 
kind ought  to  be  much  obliged  to  him ;  for  he  has  ex- 
empted them  from  the  necessity  of  acting  in  all  the 
most  important  affairs  of  life.  For  example,  you  are, 
I  know,  a  great  political  philanthropist;  you  plead  for 
the  duty  of  enlightening  the  masses  of  the  people  on 
political  questions, —  of  making  them  intelligently  ac- 
quainted with  the  main  points  of  political  and  econom- 
ical science.     You  do  not  despair  of  all  this  ?  " 

"  I  certainly  do  not,"  said  Fellowes. 

"  A  most  hopeless  task,"  said  Harrington,  "  on  Mr. 
•Newman's  principle.  The  questions  on  which  you 
€eek  to  enlighten  them  are,  many  of  them,  of  the  most 
intricate  and  difficult  character,  —  are,  all  of  them,  de- 
pendent on  principles,  and  involve  controversies,  with 

28 


326  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

which  the  great  bulk  of  mankind  are  no  more  compe- 
tent to  deal  than  with  Newton's  *.  Principia.'  An  easy, 
and  often  erroneous  assent,  on  ill-comprehended  data, 
is  all  that  you  can  expect  of  the  mass ;  and  how  can  it 
be  their  duty,  when  it  may  often  be  their  ruin,  to  act 
upon  this?  A  superficial  knowledge  is  all  that  you 
can  give  them ;  thorough  investigation  is  out  of  the 
question.  Most  men,  I  fear,  will  continue  to  believe  it 
at  least  as  possible  for  the  common  people  to  form  a 
judgment  on  the  validity  of  Paley's  '  Evidences,'  as  on 
the  reasonings  of  Smith's  '  Political  Economy.'  They 
will  say,  if  the  common  people  can  be  sufficiently  sure 
of  their  conclusions  in  the  latter  case  to  take  action 
upon  them, — that  is,  to  render  action  a  duty,  —  the 
like  is  possible  in  the  former.  Should  you  not  hold  by 
your  principle,  and  say,  that,  as  from  the  difficulty  of 
the  investigation  it  is  not  possible  for  the  bulk  of  man- 
kind to  attain  such  a  degree  of  certainty  as  to  make 
belief  in  an  '  historical  religion '  a  duty,  so  neither,  for 
the  like  reason,  can  it  be  their  duty  to  come  to  any 
definite  conclusion,  or  to  take  any  definite  action,  in 
relation  to  the  equally  difficult  questions  of  politics, 
legislation,  political  economy,  and  a  variety  of  other 
sciences  ?  I  will  take  another  case.  I  believe  you  will 
not  deny  that  you  are  profoundly  ignorant  of  medicine, 
nor  that,  though  the  most  necessary,  it  is  at  the  same 
time  the  most  difficult  and  uncertain  of  all  the  sciences. 
You  know  that  the  great  bulk  of  mankind  are  as  ig- 
norant as  yourself ;  nay,  some  affirm  that  physicians 
themselves  are  about  as  ignorant  as  their  patients;  it 
is  certain  that,  in  reference  to  many  classes  of  disease, 
doctors  take  the  most  opposite  views  of  the  appropriate 
treatment,  and  even  treat  disease  in  general  on  princi- 
ples diametrically  opposed  I  A  more  miserable  condi- 
tion for  an  unhappy  patient  can  hardly  be  imagined. 


A    KNOTTY   POINTi-'T  327 

Though  our  own  life,  or  that  of  our  dearest  friend  in 
the  world,  hangs  in  the  balance,  it  is  impossible  for  us 
to  tell  whether  the  art  of  the  doctor  will  save  or  kill.  1 
doubt,  therefore,  whether  you  ought  not  to  conclude, 
from  the  principle  on  which  we  have  already  said  so 
much,  that  God  cannot  have  made  it  a  poor  wretch's 
duty  to  take  any  step  whatever;  nay,  since  even  the 
medical  man  himself  often  confesses  that  he  does  not 
know  whether  the  remedies  he  uses  will  do  harm  or 
good,  it  may  be  a  question  whether  he  himself  ought 
not  to  relinquish  his  profession,  at  least  if  it  be  a  duty 
in  man  to  act  only  in  cases  in  which  he  can  form  some- 
thing better  than  conjectures." 

"  Well,"  said  Fellowes,  laughing  ;  "  and  some  e"^'en 
in  the  profession  itself  say,  that  perhaps  it  might  lu  t 
be  amiss  if  the  patient  never  called  in  such  equivocal 
aid,  and  allowed  himself  to  die,  not  secundum  artem^  but 
secundum  naturam.^'' 

"  And  yet  I  fancy  that,  in  the  sudden  illness  of  a  wife 
or  child,  you  would  send  to  the  first  medical  man  in 
your  street,  or  the  next,  though  you  might  be  ignorant 
of  his  name,  and  he  might  be  almost  as  ignorant  of  his 
profession  ;  at  least,  that  is  what  the  generality  of  man- 
kind would  do." 

"  They  certainly  would." 

"  But  yet,  upon  your  principles,  how  can  it  be  their 
duty  to  act  on  such  slender  probabilities,  or,  rathei, 
mere  conjectures,  in  cases  so  infinitely  important  ?  " 

"  I  know  not  how  that  may  be,  but  it  is  assuredly 
necessai'y,'''' 

"  Well,  then,  shall  we  say  it  is  only  necessary^  but  not 
a  duty  ?  But  then,  if  in  a  case  of  such  importance  God 
has  made  it  thus  necessary  for  man  to  act  in  such  igno- 
rance, people  will  say  he  may  possibly  have  left  them 
in  something  less  than  absolute  certainty  in  the  matter 


328  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

of  ain  *  .istorical  religion.'  —  Aii !  it  is  impossible  to  un- 
ravel these  difficulties.  I  only  knpw,  that,  if  the  princi- 
ple be  true,  then  as  men  in  general  cannot  form  any  rea- 
sonable judgment,  not  only  on  the  principles  of  medical 
science,  but  even  on  the  knowledge  and  skill  of  any 
particular  professor  of  it,  (by  their  ludicrous  mis-esti- 
mate of  which  they  are  daily  duped  both  of  money  and 
life  to  an  enormous  extent,)  it  cannot  be  their  duty  to 
take  any  steps  in  this  matter  at  all.  The  fair  applica- 
tion, therefore,  of  the  principle  in  question  would,  as  I 
say,  save  mankind  a  great  deal  of  trouble  ;  —  but,  alas  ! 
it  involves  us  philosophers  in  a  great  deal." 

"  I  cannot  help  thinking,"  said  Fellowes,  "  that  you 
have  caricatured  the  principle."  And  he  appealed 
to  me. 

"However  ludicrous  the  results,"  said  I,  "of  Har- 
rington's argument,  I  do  not  think  that  his  representa- 
tion, if  the  principle  is  to  be  fairly  carried  out,  is  any 
caricature  at  all.  The  absurdity,  if  anywhere,  is  in 
the  principle  affirmed ;  viz.  that  God  cannot  have  con- 
stituted it  man's  duty  to  act^  in  cases  of  very  imperfect 
knowledge,  and  yet  we  see  that  he  has  perpetually 
compelled  him  to  do  so ;  nay,  often  in  a  condition  next 
door  to  stark  ignorance.  To  vindicate  the  wisdom  of 
such  a  constitution  may  be  impossible ;  but  the  fact 
cannot  be  denied.  The  Christian  admits  the  difficulty 
alike  in  relation  to  religion  and  to  the  affairs  of  this 
world.  He  believes,  with  Butler,  that  *  probability  is 
the  guide  of  life ' ;  —  that  man  may  have  sufficient  evi- 
dence, in  a  thousand  cases,  —  varying,  however,  in  dif- 
ferent individuals,  —  to  warrant  his  action,  and  a  rea- 
sonable confidence  in  the  results,  though  that  evidence 
is  very  far  removed  from  certitude;  —  that  similarly  the 
mass  of  men  are  justified  in  saying  that  they  know  a 
^^housand  facts  of  history  to  be  true,  though  they  never 


A    KNOTTY    POINT.  329 

had  the  opportunity,  or  capacity,  of  thoroughly  investi- 
gating them,  and  that  the  great  facts  of  science  are  true, 
though  they  may  know  no  more  of  science  than  of  the 
geology  of  the  moon  ;  — that  the  statesman,  the  lawyer, 
and  the  physician  are  justified  in  acting,  where  they  yet 
are  compelled  to  acknowledge  that  they  act  only  on 
most  unsatisfactory  calculations  of  probabilities,  and 
amidst  a  thousand  doubts  and  difficulties  ;  —  that  you^ 
Mr.  F3llowes,  are  justified  in  endeavoring  to  enlighten 
the  common  people  on  many  important  subjects  con- 
nected with  political  and  social  science,  in  which  it  is 
yet  quite  certain  that  not  one  in  a  hundred  thousand 
can  ever  go  to  the  bottom  of  them ;  of  which  very  few 
can  do  more  than  attain  a  rough  and  crude  notion,  and 
in  which  the  bulk  must  act  solely  because  they  are 
persuaded  that  other  men  know  more  about  the  mat- 
ters in  question  than  themselves ;  —  all  which,  say  we 
Christians,  is  true  in  relation  to  the  Christian  religion, 
the  evidence  for  which  is  plainer,  after  all,  than  that  on 
which  man  in  ten  thousand  cases  is  necessitated  to 
hazard  his  fortune  or  his  life.  If  you  follow  out  Mr. 
Newman's  principle,  I  think  you  must  with  Harrington 
liberate  mankind  from  the  necessity  of  acting  altogether 
in  all  the  most  important  relations  of  human  life.  If  it 
be  thought  not  only  hard  that  men  should  be  called 
perpetually  to  act  on  defective,  grossly  defective  evi- 
dence, but  still  harder  that  they  should  possess  varying 
degrees  even  of  that  evidence,  it  may  be  said  that  th<j 
difference  perhaps  is  rather  apparent  than  real.  Thosi*. 
whom  we  call  profoundly  versed  in  the  more  difficult 
matters  which  depend  on  moral  evidence,  are  virtually 
in  the  same  condition  as  their  humbler  neighbors ;  they 
are  profound  only  by  comparison  with  the  superficiality 
of  these  last.  "Where  men  must  act,  the  decisive  facts, 
as  was  said  in  relation  to  history,  may  be  pretty  equally 


330  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

grasped  by  all ;  and  as  for  the  rest,  the  enlargement  of 
the  circle  of  a  man's  knowledge  is,  in  a  still  greater 
proportion,  the  enlargement  of  the  circle  of  his  igno- 
rance; for  the  circumscribing  periphery  lies  in  darkness. 
Doubts,  in  proportion  to  the  advance  of  knowledge, 
spring  up  where  they  were  before  unknown  ;  and  though 
the  previous  ignorance  of  these  was  not  knowledge,  the 
knowledge  of  them  (as  Harrington  has  said)  is  little 
better  than  an  increase  of  our  ignorance." 

"  If,  as  you  suppose,  it  cannot  be  our  duty  to  act  in 
reference  to  any  '  historical  religion '  because  a  satisfac- 
tory investigation  is  impossible  to  the  mass  of  mankind, 
the  argument  may  be  retorted  on  your  own  theory. 
You  assert,  indeed,  that  in  relation  to  religion  we  have 
an  internal  '  spiritual  faculty '  which  evades  this  diffi- 
culty; yet  men  persist  in  saying,  in  spite  of  you,  that 
it  is  doubtful,  —  1st,  whether  they  have  any  such  ;  2d, 
whether,  if  there  be  one,  it  be  not  so  debauched  and 
sophisticated  by  other  faculties,  that  they  can  no  longer 
trust  it  implicitly ;  od^  what  is  the  amount  of  its  gen- 
uine utterances ;  4th,  what  that  of  its  aberrations  ;  5th, 
whether  it  is  not  so  dependent  on  development,  educa- 
tion, and  association,  as  to  leave  room  enough  for  an 
auxiliary  external  revelation  ;  —  on  all  which  questions 
the  generality  of  mankind  are  just  as  incapable  of  de- 
ciding, as  about  any  historical  question  whatever." 

Here  Fellowes  was  called  out  of  the  room.  Har- 
rington, who  had  been  glancing  at  the  newspaper,  ex- 
claimed, — ''  Talk  about  the  conditions  on  which  man  is 
left  to  act  indeed !  Only  think  of  his  gtH5ss  ignorance 
and  folly  being  left  a  prey  to  such  quack  advertisements 
as  half  fill  this  column.  Here  empirics  every  day  al- 
most invite  men  to  be  immortal  for  the  small  charge  of 
half  a  crown.  Here  is  a  panacea  for  nearly  every  dis- 
ease unier  heave  i,  in  the  shape  of  some  divine  elixir, 


MEDICAL    ANALOGIES.  331 

and,  what  is  more,  we  know  that  thousands  are  gulled 
by  it.  How  satisfactory  is  that  condition  of  the  human 
intellect  in  which  quack  promises  can  be  proffered  with 
any  plausible  chance  of  success  I  " 

I  told  him  I  thought  the  science  of  medicine  would 
yield  an  argument  against  religious  sceptics  which  they 
would  find  it  very  difficult  to  reply  to. 

"  How  so  ?  " 

"  Ah !  it  is  well  masked  ;  but  I  know  you  too  well  to 
allow  me  to  doubt  that  you  suspect  what  I  am  refer- 
ring to." 

"  Upon  my  word,  I  am  all  in  the  dark." 

"  Is  there  not,"  said  I,  "  a  close  analogy  between 
the  condition  of  men  in  reference  to  the  health  of  their 
bodies  and  the  science  by  which  they  hope  to  conserve 
or  restore  it,  and  the  health  of  their  souls  and  the  sci- 
ence by  which  they  hope  to  conserve  or  restore  that  ? 
Has  not  God  placed  them  in  precisely  the  same  diffi- 
culty and  perplexity  in  both  cases,  —  nay,  as  I  think,  in 
greater  in  relation  to  medicine,  —  and  yet  is  not  man 
most  willing  and  eager  to  apply  to  its  most  problematic 
aid,  imparted  even  by  the  most  ignorant  practitioners, 
rather  than  be  without  it  altogether?  The  possession 
which  man  holds  most  valuable  in  this  world,  and  most 
men,  alas !  more  valuable  than  aught  in  any  other 
world,  —  LIFE  itself,  —  is  at  stake  ;  it  is  subjected  to  a 
science,  or  rather  an  art,  proverbially  difficult  in  theory 
and  uncertain  in  practice,  about  which  there  have  been 
ten  thousand  varieties  of  opinion,  —  whimsically  cor- 
responding to  the  diversity  of  sect,  creed,  and  priest- 
hood, on  which  sceptics  like  you  lay  so  much  stress ; 
in  which  even  the  wisest  and  most  cautious  practition- 
ers confess  that  their  art  is  at  best  only  a  species  of 
guessing;  while  the  patient  can  no  more  judge  of  the 
remedies  he  con»;?nts,  with  so  much  faith,  to  swallow 


332  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

on  the  knowledge  of  him  who  prescribes  them,  than  he 
can  of  the  perturbations  of  Jupiter's  satellites.  Yet  the 
moment  he  is  sick,  away  he  goes  to  this  dubious  oracle, 
and  trusts  it  with  a  most  instructive  faith  and  docility, 
as  if  it  were  infallible.  All  his  doubts  are  mastered  in 
an  instant.  I  strongly  suspect  yours  would  be.  Ought 
vou  not  in  consistency  to  refuse  to  act  at  all  in  such 
deplorable  deficiency  of  evidence  ?  " 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  consistent  or  inconsistent,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  the  parallel  is  very  complete,  —  and 
amusing."  And  he  then  went  on,  as  he  was  apt  to  do, 
when  an  analogy  struck  his  fancy.  "  Let  me  see,  —  yes, 
our  unlucky  race  is  condemned  to  put  its  most  valued 
possession  on  the  hazard  of  a  wise  choice,  without  any 
of  the  essential  qualifications  for  wisely  making  it;  a 
man  cannot  at  all  tell  whether  his  particular  priest  in 
medicine  understands  and  can  skilfully  apply  even  his 
own  theory.  Yes,"  he  went  on,  "  and  I  think  (as  you 
say)  we  might  find,  not  only  in  the  partisans  of  differ- 
ent systems  of  physic,  the  representatives  of  the  various 
priesthoods,  but  in  their  too  credulous  —  or  shall  we 
say,  too  faithful  patients  ?  —  the  representatives  of  all 
sects.  There  is,  for  example,  the  superstitious  vulgar 
in  medicine,  —  the  gross  worshipper  of  the  Fetish,  who 
believes  in  the  efRcacy  of  charm,  and  spell,  and  incan- 
tation, of  mere  ceremonial  and  opus  operatum;  then 
there  is  the  polytheist,  who  will  adore  any  thing  in  the 
shape  of  a  drug^  and  who  is  continually  quacking  him- 
self with  some  nostrum  or  other  from  morning  to  night ; 
who  not  only  takes  his  regular  physician's  prescriptions, 
but  has  his  household  gods  of  empirical  remedies,  to 
which  he  applies  with  equal  devotion.  Then  there  is 
the  Romanist  in  medicine,  who  swears  by  the  infalli- 
bility of  some  papal  Abernethy,  and  the  unfailing  effi- 
cacy of  some  viaticum  of  a  blue  pill." 


MEDICAL    ANALOGIES.  333 

"  And  who,"  said  I,  "  would  represent  our  friend  who 
has  just  left  the  room,  and  who  has  tried  every  thing?  " 

"  Why,"  he  replied,  "  I  think  he  is  in  the  condition  of 
a  little  boy  of  whom  I  heard  a  little  while  ago,  whose 
mother  was  a  homoeopathist,  and  kept  a  little  chest, 
from  which  she  dispensed  to  her  family  and  friends, 
perhaps  as  skilfully  as  the  doctor  himself  could  have 
done.  The  little  fellow,  going  into  her  dressing-room, 
opened  this  box,  and,  thinking  that  he  had  fallen  on  a 
store  of  *  millions'  (as  children  call  them),  swallowed 
up  his  mother's  whole  doctor's  shop  before  he  could  be 
stopped.  It  was  happy,  said  the  doctor,  when  called 
in,  that  the  little  patient  had  swallowed  so  many^  or  he 
would  have  been  infallibly  killed.  Or  perhaps  we  may 
liken  our  friend  to  that  humorous  traveller,  Mr.  Stephens, 
who  tells  us,  that,  having  been  provided  at  Cairo,  by  a 
skilful  physician  there,  with  a  number  of  remedies  for 
some  serious  complaint  to  which  he  was  subject,  found, 
to  his  dismay,  when  suffering  under  a  severe  paroxysm 
in  the  fortress  of  Akaba,  that  he  had  lost  the  directions 
which  told  him  in  what  order  the  medicines  were  to  be 
taken.  Whether  pill,  powder,  or  draught  was  to  come 
first,  he  knew  not :  *  on  which,'  says  he,  *  in  a  fit  of  des- 
peration, I  placed  them  all  in  a  row  before  me,  and 
resolved  to  swallow  them  all  seriatim  till  I  obtained 
relief.'     George  has  equal  faith." 

"  You  have  omitted,"  said  I,  "  on^  character,  —  that 
of  the  sceptic,  who  believes  in  no  medicine  at  all ; 
who  sturdily  dies  with  his  doubts  unresolved,  and  un- 
attended by  any  physician.  But  it  must  be  confessed 
that  he  is  a  still  rarer  character  than  the  sceptic  in 
religion.  Nature,  my  dear  Harrington,  everywhere  de- 
cides against  you." 

"  I  acknowledge,"  he  said,  "  that  we  are  but  a  scanty 
flock  in  any  department  of  life  ;  but,  upon  my  word,  the 
parallel  you  have  suggested  is  so  striking,  that  I  think 


334  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

I  must;  in  consistency,  extend  my  scepticism  to  physic 
at  least;  and,  if  I  am  ill,  refrain  from  availing  myself  of 
so  uncertain  an  art,  practised  by  such  uncertain  hands, 
and  which  are  to  be  selected  by  one  who  cannot  even 
guess  whether  they  are  ignorant  or  skilful ;  —  doctors, 
who  may  perhaps,  as  Voltaire  said,  put  drugs  of  which 
they  know  nothing  into  bodies  of  which  they  know  still 
less:' 

"  Act  upon  that  resolution,  Harrington,"  said  I,  "  and 
you  will  at  least  be  consistent :  but,  depend  upon  it, 
nature  will  confute  you." 

"  Why,"  said  he,  jestingly,  "  perhaps  in  the  case  of 
medicine,  at  all  events,  I  might  face  the  consequences 
of  scepticism.  I  remember  reading,  in  some  account  of 
Madagascar,  that  the  natives  are  absolutely  without 
the  healing  art ;  *  and  yet,'  says  the  author,  with  grave 
surprise,  *  it  is  not  observed  that  the  number  of  deaths 
is  increased.'  Perhaps,  thought  I,  that  is  the  cause  of 
it." 

"  The  statistics,"  I  replied,  "  of  more  civilized  coun- 
tries amply  refute  you,  and  show  you  that,  uncertain  as 
is  the  evidence  on  which  God  has  destined  and  com- 
pelled men  to  act  in  this,  the  most  important  affair  of 
the  present  life,  and  absolute  as  is  the  faith  they  are 
summoned  to  exercise,  neither  is  the  study  of  the  art 
(uncertain  as  it  is  in  itself),  nor  the  dependence  of  pa- 
tients upon  it  (still  more  precarious  as  that  is),  unjus- 
tified on  the  whole  by  the  result ;  and  as  to  the  abuses 
of  downright  quackery,  a  little  prudence  and  common 
sense  are  required,  and  are  sufficient  to  preserve  men 
from  them." 

He  mused,  and,  I  thought,  seemed  struck  by  this 
analogy  between  man's  temporal  and  spiritual  condi 
tion      I  said  no  more,  hoping  that  he  would  ponder  it. 


HISTORIC    CRITICISM.  835 

July  25.  I  had  been  so  much  interested  in  the  dis- 
cussion between  Harrington  and  young  Robinson  on 
the  fair  application  of  the  principle  of  Strauss  to  his- 
tory in  general,  that  I  could  not  resis^t  the  temptation 
to  tell  the  youth,  in  secret,  that  I  thought  the  matter 
would  admit  of  further  discussion,  and  that  he  would 
do  well  to  challenge  Harrington  plausibly  to  show  that 
some  undoubted  modern  event  might,  when  it  became 
remote  history,  be  rendered  dubious  to  posterity.  He 
willingly  acted  on  the  hint  the  next  morning.  To  some 
remark  of  his,  Harrington  replied  thus  :  — 

"  Assuming  with  you,  that  Strauss  has  really  cast 
suspicion  on  the  historic  character  of  the  bulk  of  the 
transactions  recorded  in  the  New  Testament,  I  must 
suspect  that  there  is  not  an  event  in  history,  if  at  all 
remote,  which,  arguing  exactly  on  the  same  principles, 
may  not  be  made  doubtful ;  and  that  is " 

"  Why,  now,"  replied  the  other,  "  do  you  think  it 
possible  that  the  events  of  the  present  year  "  (referring 
to  the  Papal  Aggression),  "which  are  making  such  a 
prodigious  noise  in  England,  will  ever  stand  a  chance 
of  being  similarly  treated  some  centuries  hence  ?  " 

"  If  they  are  ever  treated  at  all,"  said  Harrington  ; 
"  but  you  must  have  observed  that  it  is  the  tendency  of 
man  to  make  ridiculous  mis-estimates  of  the  impor- 
tance of  the  transactions  of  his  own  age,  and  to  imag- 
ine that  posterity  will  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  recount 
them.  He  is  much  mistaken  ;  they  forget  or  care  not  a 
doit  for  nine  tenths  of  what  he  does ;  and  misrej^resent 
the  tenth,"  continued  he,  laughing. 

"  Well,  then,  upon  the  supposition  that  Pio  Nono 
and  Cardinal  Wiseman  are  of  sufficient  importance  to 
be  remembered  at  all  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty  years 
hence,  that  is,  in  the  year  3700  of  the  Christian  era,  — 
though  in  all  probability  some  new  and  more  rational 


336  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

epoch  will  have  jostled  out  both  the  Christian  eia  and 
the  Mahometan  hegira  by  that  time " 

"  Pray  be  sure,"  interrupted  I,  "  before  you  predict  a 
new  epoch,  that  it  will  be  wanted  ;  that  Christianity  is 
,  eally  dead  before  you  bury  her.  You  will  please  to 
remember  that  the  experiment  was  tried  in  France  with 
much  formality,  but  somehow  came  to  a  speedy  and 
ignominious  conclusion ;  the  new  era  did  not  survive  its 
infancy.  As  Paulus  thinks  that  Christ  was  only  in  a 
trance  when  he  seemed  to  be  dead,  so  it  certainly  often 
is  (figuratively  speaking)  with  his  religion :  it  seems  to 
be  dead  when  it  is  only  in  a  trance.  It  is  apt  to  rise 
again,  and  be  more  active  than  ever ;  and  never  more 
so  than  when,  as  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  our 
infidel  undertakers  were  providing  for  its  funeral.  But 
I  beg  your  pardon  for  interrupting  your  conversation ; 
you  were  saying " 

"  I  was  saying,"  said  Robinson,  "  that  I  doubt  wheth- 
er Cardinal  Wiseman  and  his  doings,  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  hence,  could  be  as  much  the  subject 
of  doubt  and  controversy  (if  remembered  at  all)  as  the 
events  which  Strauss  has  shown  to  be  unhistorical.  I 
think  the  press  alone,  with  its  diffusion  and  multiplica- 
tion of  the  sources  of  knowledge,  will  alone  prevent 
in  the  future  the  doubts  which  gather  over  the  past. 
There  will  never  again  be  the  same  dearth  of  historic 
materials." 

"  In  spite  of  all  that,"  replied  Harrington,  "  I  suspect 
it  will  be  very  possible  for  men  to  entertain  the  same 
doubts  about  many  events  of  our  time,  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  hence,  as  they  entertain  of  many 
which  happened  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago." 

"  I  can  hardly  imagine  this  to  be  possible." 

"  Because,  I  apprehend,  first,  that  you  are  laboring 
under  the  delusion  already  mentioned,  by  which  mea 


HISTORIC    CRITICISM.  337 

ever  magnify  the  importance  of  the  events  of  their  own 
age,  and  forget  how  readily  future  generations  will  let 
them  slip  from  their  memory,  and  let  documents  which 
contain  the  record  of  them  slip  out  of  existence ;  and, 
secondly,  because  you  do  not  give  yourself  time  to 
realize  all  that  is  implied  in  supposing  eighteen  hun- 
dred years  to  have  elapsed,  nor  to  transport  yourself 
fairly  into  that  distant  age.  As  to  the  first ;  —  let  us 
recollect  that  the  importance  of  historic  events  is  by  no 
means  in  proportion  to  the  excitement  they  produce  at 
the  time  of  their  occurrence.  We  have  many  exem- 
plifications of  this  even  in  our  own  time ;  see  the  rapid- 
ity with  which  every  trace  of  a  political  storm,  which 
foi  a  moment  may  have  lashed  the  whole  nation  into 
fury,  is  appeased  again  :  the  surface  is  as  smooth  after 
a  few  short  years  as  if  it  had  never  been  ruffled  at  all ! 
In  all  such  cases,  the  constant  tendency  is  to  let  the 
events  which  have  been  thus  transient  in  their  effects 
sink  into  oblivion.  But  even  of  those  which  have  been 
far  more  significant,  (since  each  future  age  will  teem 
with  fresh  events  equally  significant,  all  claiming  a  part 
in  the  page  of  general  history,)  the  importance  will  be 
perpetually  diminishing  in  estimate,  and  still  more  in 
interest,  from  the  intenser  feeling  with  which  each  age 
will  in  turn  regard  the  events  which  stand  in  immediate 
prox'imity  to  its  own.  As  time  rolls  on,  all  of  the  past 
that  can  be  spared  will  be  gradually  jostled  out.  De- 
tails will  be  lost ;  and  then,  when  remote  ages  turn  to 
reinvestigate  the  half-forgotten  past,  the  want  of  those 
details  will  issue  in  the  customary  problems  and  <  his- 
toric doubts.'  In  the  page  of  general  history,  events  of 
a  remote  age,  except  those  of  a  surpassing  interest, 
will  be  reduced  to  more  and  more  meagre  outlines,  till 
abridgments  are  abridged,  and  even  these  compendi- 
ums  thought  tedious.    The  interval  between  decade  and 

29 


338  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

decade  now  will  be  as  much  as  that  between  century 
and  century  then.  History  will  have  to  employ  a  sort 
of  Bramah  press  in  her  compositions,  and  its  applica 
tion  will  compress  into  mere  films  the  loose  and  pulpy 
textures  submitted  to  it  by  each  age.  Let  human  van- 
ity think  what  it  will,  many  events  and  many  names 
which  seem  imperishable  will  speedily  die  out  of  re- 
membrance; many  lights  in  the  firmament,  destined 
(as  we  deem)  to  shine  '  like  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever,' 
will  hereafter  be  missing  from  the  catalogue  of  the  his- 
toric astronomer." 

"  But,  at  all  events,"  said  the  other,  "  though  there 
are  thousands  of  facts  which  will  be  virtually  forgotten, 
it  will  be  at  all  times  easy  to  ascertain  (if  a  sufficiently 
strong  motive  exist)  the  real  character  of  past  events 
by  a  reference  to  the  documents  preserved  by  the  press. 
The  press,  —  the  press  it  is  which  will  preserve  us  from 
the  doubts  of  the  past." 

"  I  doubt  that.  Has  there  been  any  lack  of  historic 
controversy  respecting  a  thousand  facts  which  have 
transpired  since  the  press  was  in  full  activity?  You 
forget,  that,  in  the  first  place,  neither  the  press,  nor  any 
thing  else,  can  preserve  any  original  documents.  Time 
will  not  be  inactive  in  the  future  more  than  in  the  past ; 
it  will  have  no  more  respect  for  printed  books  than  for 
manuscripts.  An  immense  mass  of  print  is  every  year 
silently  perishing  by  mere  decay.  The  original  docu- 
ments to  which  you  refer  will,  eighteen  hundred  years 
hence;  have  almost  all  perished ;  few  will  be  preserved 
except  in  copies,  and  how  many  disputes  that  alone  will 
cause,  it  is  hard  to  say;  but  we  may  form  some  guess 
from  the  experience  of  the  past.  Of  thousands  of  these 
documents,  again,  no  importance  having  been  attached 
to  them,  and  no  one  having  imagined  that  any  impor- 
tance would  ever  be  attached  to  them,  no  copies  will 


HISTORIC    CRITICISM.  339 

have  been  taken,  and  there  will  be  here  again  the  usual 
field  for  conjectures.  This  is  a  common  trick  of  time ; 
—  silently  destroying  what  a  present  age  thinks  may 
as  well  be  left  to  his  maw.  It  is  not  even  discovered 
that  valuable  documents  are  lost,  till  something  turns 
up  to  make  mankind  wish  they  may  be  found.  But 
neither  is  this  the  sole  nor  the  chief  source  of  future 
historic  doubts.  Do  not  flatter  yourself  too  much  on 
the  wonders  which  the  press  can  work,  amongst  which 
one  unquestionably  is,  that  it  will  bury  at  least  as  much 
as  it  will  preserve.  Several  considerations  will  suffice 
to  show  that  here,  too,  we  labor  under  a  delusion.  Ob- 
livion will  practically  cover  many  events,  owing  to  the 
mere  accumulations  of  the  press  itself.  You  talk  of  the 
ease  of  consulting  '  original  documents  ^ ;  but  when 
they  lie  buried  in  the  depths  of  national  museums, 
amidst  mountain  loads  of  forgotten  and  decaying  liter- 
ature, it  will  not  be  so  easy^  even  supposing  the  present 
activity  of  the  press  only  maintained  for  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  (although,  in  all  probability,  it  will 
proceed  at  a  rapidly  increased  ratio),  —  I  say  it  will  not 
be  so  easy  to  lay  your  hands  on  what  you  want.  The 
materials,  again,  will  often  exist  by  that  time  in  dead 
or  half-obsolete  languages,  or  at  least  in  languages  full 
of  archaic  forms.  It  will  be  almost  as  difficult  to  un- 
earth and  collate  the  documents  which  bear  upon  any 
events  less  than  the  most  momentous,  as  to  recover  the 
memorials  of  Egypt  from  the  pyramids,  or  of  ancient 
Assyria  from  the  mounds  of  Nineveh.  The  historian 
of  a  remote  period  must  be  a  sort  of  Belzoni  or  Layard 
If  we  can  suppose  any  thing  so  extravagant  as  that  the 
British  Museum  will  be  in  existence  then,  having  pre- 
served during  these  centuries  (as  it  does  now)  all  new 
books,  and  accumulated  ancient  and  foreign  literature 
only  at  the  rate  it  has  during  these  few  years  past,  the 


340  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

library  alone  will  extend  over  hundreds  of  acres  at  least'. 
This,  unle.ss  our  posterity  are  fools,  can  hardly  be  the 
case ;  and  therefore  much  will  be  rejected  and  left  to 
the  mercy  of  the  great  destroyer.  But  the  very  exist- 
ence of  any  such  repository  is  itself  a  very  doubtful 
supposition.  Comprehensive,  indeed,  may  be  the  de- 
struction of  many  large  portions  of  our  archives,  essen- 
tially necessary  to  minute  accuracy  at  so  distant  a 
date;  nay,  England  herself  may  have  ceased  to  exist. 
If  her  subterranean  fuel  be  not  exhausted,  a  cheaper 
and  equally  abundant  supply  of  it  may  have  been  found 
elsewhere,  and  transfer  for  ever  the  chief  elements  of 
her  manufacturing  or  commercial  prosperity ;  or  entire- 
ly new  and  more  transcendent  sources  of  science  may 
have  done  the  same  thing,  and  our  country  may  be  left, 
like  a  stranded  vessel,  to  rot  upon  the  beach!  Her 
furnaces  extinguished,  her  manufactories  deserted,  her 
cities  decayed,  the  hum  of  her  busy  population  silenced, 
she  may  present  a  spectacle  of  desolation  like  that  of  so 
many  other  famous  nations  which  have  risen,  culmi- 
nated, and  set  for  ever." 

"  Or,"  interrupted  I,  "  (and  may  God  avert  the 
omen !)  the  same  ruin  may  be  accomplished  still  ear- 
lier, and  by  more  potent  causes.  Her  nobles  enervated 
by  luxury,  her  lower  classes  sunk  in  vice  and  ignorance, 
and  both  the  one  and  the  other  decaying  in  piety  and 
religion  (a  sure  result  of  neglecting  that  Bible  which 
has  directly  and  indirectly  formed  her  strength),  she 
may  have  fallen  a  victim  to  the  consequences  of  her 
own  degeneracy,  or  to  an  irresistible  combination  of  the 
enemies  who  envy  and  hate  her.  That  picture  of  the 
splendid  imagination  of  the  great  historian  of  our  day 
may  be  realized,  ^  when  some  traveller  from  New  Zea- 
land shall,  in  the  midst  of  a  vast  solitude,  take  his  stand 
on  a  broken  arch  of  London  Bridge  to  sketch  the  ruins 
of  St.  Paul's-^ " 


HISTORIC  criticism;-'  341 

"  In  short,"  resumed  Harrington,  "  in  seveial  ways 
that  appalling  catastrophe  may  have  taken  place ;  and, 
should  this  be  the  case,  how  many  questions  will  be 
asked  of  history,  but  asked  in  vain !  As  for  Rome,  — 
that  other  great  name  in  the  present  strife  pitted  against 
England,  —  for  aught  we  can  tell,  she  may  by  that  time 
be  in  desolation  far  more  remediless  than  when  the 
grim  Attilas  and  Alarics  stormed  her  walls.  For  aught 
we  know,  the  agency  of  those  terrible  elements  which 
more  or  less  mine  the  soil  of  Italy  may  have  made  her 
'like  unto'  Herculaneum  or  Pompeii;  or  that  silent 
desolater,  the  malaria,  which  Dr.  Arnold  thinks  will  be 
perpetual  and  will  increase,  may  long  before  that  period 
have  reduced,  not  only  the  Campagna  of  Rome,  but  the 
whole  region  of  the  '  seven  hills,'  to  a  pestilential  soli- 
tude." 

"  But  all  this  is  mere  vision  ?  "  said  Robinson. 

"  Certainly ;  but  it  is  the  vision  of  the  possible.  Simi- 
larly wonderful  and  equally  unexpected  revolutions  have 
taken  place  in  the  history  of  past  nations  and  empires 
in  a  less  space  of  time ;  and  some  enormous  changes, 
we  know,  must  happen  during  the  next  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years ;  and  they  will  tend  both  to  jostle 
out  thousands  of  events  of  meaner  moment,  and  to 
effect  a  comparative  destruction  of  the  memorials  of  the 
past.  You  do  not  suppose,  I  presume,  that  London 
and  Rome  are  absolutely  privileged  from  the  fate  which 
has  overtaken  Babylon  and  Memphis.  I,  for  one,  there- 
fore, do  not  expect  that  the  time  will  arrive  when,  in 
the  historic  investigations  of  the  past,  our  Strausses 
will  not  find  abundant  scope  for  ingenious  theories; 
nay,  many  real  sources  of  perplexity  even  in  reference 
to  events  which,  at  the  time  of  their  occurrence,  seemed 
written  as  '  with  a  pen  of  iron  on  the  rock  for  ever.' 
But  even  supposing  no  other  difficulty,  I  cannot  lay 
ad" 


343^ 


THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 


small  stress  upon  the  mere  accumulation  of  materials 
on  which  the  historian,  two  thousand  years  hence,  will 
have  to  operate,  if  he  would  recover  an  exact  account 
of  the  events  of  our  time.  It  is  much  the  same  whether 
you  have  to  dig  into  the  pyramids  of  Egypt,  or  into  the 
catacombs  of  the  buried  literature  of  two  thousand 
years,  for  the  memorials  which  are  to  enable  you  to 
arrive  at  the  exact  truth,  at  least  as  to  any  events  of 
transient  interest,  however  important  at  the  time  of 
their  occurrence.  It  will  be  like  *  hunting  for  a  needle 
in  a  bundle  of  hay,'  as  the  proverb  says." 

"  Still,  I  cannot  imagine  that  facts  like  those  with 
which  our  ears  have  been  ringing  during  the  last  eight 
months,  can  ever  be  contested." 

"  Can  you  not  ?  "  said  Harrington.  "  I  cannot  imagine 
any  thing  more  likely  than  that,  eighteen  hundred  and 
fifty  years  hence,  such  an  event,  on  Strauss's  principles, 
may  be  shown  to  be  very  problematical." 

"  Will  you  endeavor  to  show  how  it  may  probably 
be?"  rejoined  Robinson. 

"  Well,  I  have  no  objection,  if  you  will  give  me  till 
this  evening  to  prepare  so  important  a  document." 

In  the  evening,  after  supper,  he  amused  us  by  read- 
ing us  a  brief  paper,  entitled 

The  Papal  Aggression  shown  to  be  Impossible. 

"  I  shall  proceed  on  the  supposition  that  some  Dr. 
Dickkopf  or  Dr.  Scharfsinn,  for  either  name  will  do,  has 
to  deal  (as  my  uncle  here  believes  our  modern  critics 
have  to  deal  in  the  Gospels)  with  an  account  literally 
true.  This  learned  man  I  shall  imagine  as  existing  in 
some  nation  at  the  antipodes  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty 
years  hence,  and  intellectually,  if  not  literally,  descended 
from  some  erudite  critics  of  our  age.     Let  me  further 


PAPAL    AGGRESSION    IMPOSSIBLE.  343; 

suppose  that  the  principal  memorials  of  the  current 
events  are  found  in  the  page  of  some  continuator  of 
Macaulay  (may  the  Fatts  have  pity  on  him!  I  am 
afraid  he  will  be  far  worse  than  even  Smollett  after 
Hume),  who  publishes  his  work  only  sixty  years  hence. 
Let  us  suppose  him  (as  surely  we  well  may)  proceeding 
thus  :  '  During  the  year  1850  -  51,  our  countrymen  are 
represented  to  us,  by  the  accounts  of  those  who  lived  at 
the  time  (some  few  still  survive),  as  having  been  in  a 
condition  of  political  and  religious  excitement  almost 
unprecedented  in  their  history.  It  was  occasioned  by 
the  attempt  of  the  Pope  to  reestablish  the  Roman 
Catholic  hierarchy,  which  had  been  extinct  since  the 
Reformation.  As  these  events,  though  all-absorbing  to 
the  actors  in  them,  (as  are  so  many  others  of  very 
secondary  importance,)  have  now  shrunk  to  their  true 
dimensions,  and  are,  in  fact,  infinitely  less  momentous 
than  others  which  were  silently  transpiring  at  the  time 
almost  without  notice,  I  shall  content  myself  with 
simply  condensing  a  brief  contemporaneous  document 
which  gives  the  chief  points,  without  passion  or  preju- 
dice, in  a  narrative  so  simple  that  it  vouches  for  its  own 
veracity :  — 

"*  Without  permission  of  the  Crown,  or  any  nego- 
tiations with  the  Government  whatever.  Pope  Pius  the 
Ninth  divided  the  whole  of  England  into  twelve  sees, 
and  assigned  these  to  as  many  Roman  Catholic  bishops 
with  local  titles  and  territorial  jurisdiction.  The  chief 
of  them  was  one  Nicholas  Wiseman  (by  birth,  it  is 
said,  a  Spaniard),  who  was  created  Archbishop  of 
Westminster  and  Cardinal. 

"  '  The  said  Wiseman  issued  a  pastoral  letter,  which 
was  read  on  the  27th  day  of  October,  1850,  in  all  the 
churches  and  chapels  of  the  Romanists,  congratulating 
Catholic  England  on  the  reestablishment  of  the  Roman 


344  •"      THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

hierarchy.  In  it  he  used  the  startling  expression,  "  Our 
beloved  country  has  been  restored  to  its  orbit  in  the 
ecclesiastical  firmament,  from  which  its  light  had  long 
vanished." 

"  *  The  nation  was  the  more  surprised  at  all  this,  inas- 
much as  the  position  of  Pio  Nono  was  not  such  as  to 
warrant  any  expectation  of  a  step  so  audacious.  Little 
more  than  a  year  had  elapsed  since  his  own  subjects  in 
Rome  itself  rebelled  against  him,  murdered  his  Prime 
IVIinister,  and  compelled  him,  in  the  disguise  of  a  me- 
nial, to  fly  from  Rome  ;  nor  was  he  restored  except  by 
the  arms  of  the  French,  who  besieged  and  took  Rome 
in  1849. 

" '  That  the  Pope,  while  holding  his  o^n  little  domin- 
ions on  so  precarious  a  tenure,  should  venture  to  assume 
such  an  exercise  of  supremacy  over  the  most  powerful 
nation  in  the  world,  —  a  nation  so  jealous  of  its  inde- 
pendence, which  had  so  long  been,  and  which  still  was, 
most  averse  to  his  claims,  —  seemed  almost  incredible  to 
the  people  of  England ;  and  they  were  proportionably 
indignant. 

" '  Some  affirmed  that  the  aforesaid  Cardinal  Wiseman 
was  the  chief  cause  of  it  all,  —  the  spectacle  of  many 
conversions  from  the  Church  of  England  to  that  of 
Rome  having  deceived  him  into  a  notion  that  the  na- 
tional mind  was  far  more  generally  disposed  to  receive 
Romanism,  and  to  make  up  the  long-standing  breach 
with  the  Papacy,  than  was  really  the  case.  The  princi- 
pal cause  of  the  conversions  above  mentioned  was  what 
was  called  the  "  Oxford  Movement."  In  the  Univer- 
sity of  Oxford  had  sprung  up  a  body  of  men  who  had 
consecrated  their  lives  to  the  diff'usion  of  doctrines  in- 
definitely near  those  of  Rome.  They  spoke  of  the 
Reformation  contemptuously ;  advocated  very*  many 
obsolete  rites  and  usages ;  magnified  the  power  of  the 


PAPAL    AGGRESSION    IMPOSSIBLE.  345 

Church  and  the  prerogatives  of  the  priesthood.  Many 
of  them,  at  length,  finding  that  they  could  not,  with 
any  shadow  of  consistency,  remain  in  the  English 
Church,  abandoned  it ;  but  many  others  remained,  and 
propagated  the  same  opinions  with  impunity.  They 
were  regarded  as  traitors  by  their  brethren,  though  no 
steps  were  taken  to  prevent  them  from  teaching  their 
notions,  nor  to  deprive  them  of  their  benefices  and 
emoluments.  Among  those  who  gave  up  their  livings, 
of  their  own  accord,  from  the  feeling  that  they  could 
not  hold  them  with  a  safe  conscience,  the  principal  was 
one  afterwards  called  Father  Newman. 

" '  Now  this  Newman  must  by  no  means  be  con- 
founded with  another  of  the  same  name.  Professor 
Newman,  —  in  fact  his  own  brother, —  who  was  also 
educated  at  Oxford,  but  whose  history  was  in  most 
singular  contrast  with  his.  While  the  one  brother  went 
over  to  Rome,  exceeded  in  zeal  and  credulity  even  the 
Romanists  themselves,  and  sighed  for  a  restoration  of 
mediseval  puerilities,  the  other  lapsed  into  downright 
infidelity,  and  denied  even  the  possibility  of  an  external 
revelation. 

"  <  Very  many  thought,  that,  if  the  Oxford  party  had 
been  wise  enough  to  proceed  more  gently  in  the  propa- 
gation of  their  notions,  they  would  have  accomplished 
much  greater  things,  and  perhaps  eventually  brought 
the  popular  mind  to  embrace  the  Romish  Church.  But 
their  later  publications  (and  especially  No.  90)  opened 
the  eyes  of  many,  and  the  frequent  defections  from  the 
English  Church,  which  were  almost  daily  announced  in 
the  papers,  opened  the  eyes  of  many  more. 

"  '  But  whether  or  not  Wiseman  and  other  principal 
persons  were  misled  by  erroneous  representations  of 
the  state  of  the  English  mind,  certain  it  is  that  he  ad- 
vised the  Pope  to  take  this  perilous  step.     The  Pope 


346  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

was  persuaded  ;  he  assured  the  people  of  England,  that 
he  should  not  cease  to  supplicate  the  Virgin  Mary  and 
all  the  saints  whose  virtues  had  made  this  country  il- 
lustrious, that  they  would  deign  to  obtain,  by  their  in- 
tercessions with  God,  a  happy  issue  to  his  enterprise. 

"  *  The  excitement  produced  by  the  publication  of  the 
Pope's  proceedings  throughout  England  was  prodig- 
ious, and  can  hardly  be  conceived  by  us  at  this  day. 
Every  county,  city,  and  almost  every  town,  held  meet- 
ings in  the  utmost  alarm  and  indignation ;  and  resolved 
on  petitioning  the  Queen  and  Parliament  to  do  some- 
thing or  other  to  prevent  the  Pope's  measures  from  tak- 
ing effect;  and  especially  to  annul  all  claims  to  local 
and  territorial  jurisdiction  in  this  country.  The  uni- 
versities ;  the  clergy  in  their  dioceses ;  the  Bishops  col- 
lectively, —  even  Philpotts  of  Exeter,  though  intoxicated 
with  zeal  for  those  Oxford  notions  which  had  done  all 
the  mischief;  the  municipalities;  almost  all  organized 
bodies,  whether  of  Churchmen  or  Dissenters ;  —  dis- 
cussed and  resolved.  Amongst  these  meetings  one  was 
held  at  the  Guildhall  of  London,  which  was  crowded 
with  the  merchant  princes  of  that  great  city,  and  all 
that  could  represent  its  wealth,  intelligence,  and  energy. 
One  Masterman  opened  the  proceedings,  made  a  ve- 
hement speech  against  the  Bishop  of  Rome  and  his 
pretensions,  and  proposed  a  stringent  resolution,  which 
was  carried  by  acclamation. 

" '  At  a  dinner  given  by  the  Lord  Mayor,  at  which 
were  present  many  of  the  Ministers  of  the  Crown,  the 
Lord  Chancellor  Wilde  spoke  very  boldly,  and,  as  some 
thought,  unadvisedly,  on  his  possible /^^/wre  relations  to 
^he  Cardinal. 

"  *  Cardinal  Wiseman  publisfied  a  subtle  defence  of 
himself  and  the  Popish  measure,  which  he  addressed 
to  the  people  of  England;  and,  whether  consistently 


PAPAL    AGGRESSION    IMPOSSIBLE.  347 

or  inconsistently,  pleaded  in  the  most  strenuous  man- 
ner for  the  inviolable  observance  of  the  principles  of 
"  religious  liberty.'^ 

" '  A  singular  and  indeed  inexplicaole  circumstance 
occurred  in  the  course  of  this  controversy.  In  a  lec- 
ture, delivered  at  the  Hanover  Square  Rooms,  a  cer- 
tain Presbyterian  clergyman  had  asserted  that  the  oath 
prescribed  in  the  Pontificale  Romanum,  which  the  Car- 
dinal Wiseman  must  have  taken  to  the  Pope  when  he 
received  the  Pallium  as  Archbishop  of  Westminster, 
notoriously  contained  a  clause  enjoining  the  duty  of 
persecution.  This  clause,  a  facetious  Englishman  said, 
ought  to  be  translated,  "  I  will  persecute  and  pitch  into 
all  heretics  to  the  utmost  of  my  power  "  ;  and  every  one 
knew  that  the  Pope  of  Rome  looked  upon  the  English 
as  the  greatest  heretics  in  the  world. 

" '  When  Wiseman  heard  of  the  representations  thus 
made,  he  caused  his  secretary  to  write  to  the  Protestant 
lecturer,  to  say  that  the  clause  in  the  oath  to  which 
he  had  referred  was  not  insisted  upon,  in  his  (the  Car- 
dinal's) case,  by  the  Pope,  and  that,  if  his  calumniator 
chose  to  go  to  the  Cardinal's  library,  he  would  see  that 
it  was  cancelled  in  his  copy  of  the  Pontifical.  The 
Protestant  accepted  his  challenge,  and  went  to  the  said 
library.  He  was  then  shown  the  oath,  and  found  the 
clause  in  question,  totidem  verbis  ;  not  cancelled,  how- 
ever, but  marked  off  by  a  line  in  black  ink  drawn  over 
it,  and  (as  it  seemed)  very  recently 

" '  Pamphlets  were  published  on  this  curious  circum- 
stance on  both  sides  ;  the  Roman  Catholics  contended 
that  the  mere  fact  of  Wiseman's  challenge  was  a  suf- 
ficient proof  of  his  consciousness  of  rectitude. 

"  *  On  the  whole,  after  half  a  year  of  perpetual  agita- 
tion, both  in  and  out  of  Parliament,  a  measure  was 
passed  which  was  notoriously  inadequate  to  suppress 
the  offence,  and  which  was  broken  with  impunity. 


348  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  *-It  is  gratifying  to  add,  that,  notwithstanding  the 
dangerous  and  vehement  excitement  which  so  long  in- 
flamed the  minds  of  the  people,  no  life  was  lost  except 
on  one  occasion.  The  sufferer  —  contrary  to  what 
might  have  been  expected  —  was  of  the  dominant  party ; 
a  policeman,  who  was  endeavoring  to  repress  the  party 
violence  of  some  Irish  Catholics  in  the  North  of  Eng- 
land.' " 


"  Now  it  need  not  be  said,"  proceeded  Harrington, 
"  that  these  sentences  contain  what  is  perfectly  well 
known  by  you  —  for  myself  I  say  nothing  —  to  be  the 
merest  matter  of  fact,  narrated  in  the  simplest  language, 
without  any  art  or  embellishment.  Would  you  like 
to  hear  how  Dr.  Dickkopf,  of  New  Zealand,  or  Kam- 
tschatka,  or  Caffre-land,  might  treat  such  a  document 
eighteen  hundred  and  fifty  years  hence,  amidst  that  im- 
perfect light  which  we  well  know  rests  upon  so  many 
portions  of  the  past,  and  which  may,  very  possibly,  be 
felt  in  the  future  ?  I  think  it  would  not  be  difficult 
for  him  to  show  that  the  *  Papal  Aggression '  was  im' 
possible^ 

"  We  will,  at  least,  listen  to  you,"  said  Robinson. 

"  Let  us  suppose,  then,  some  learned  Theban  stum- 
bling upon  this  brief  record  of  an  obscure  event,  and,  as 
usual,  making  (if  only  because  he  had  discovered  what 
nobody  in  the  world  either  knew  or  cared  about)  a  huge 
commentary  upon  it ;  concluding  from  the  internal  evi- 
dence, the  simplicity  of  the  style,  the  absence  of  all 
imaginable  motives  for  misrepresentation,  and  some 
external  corroborative  fragments  painfully  gleaned  from 
the  history  of  the  period,  that  these  sentences  formed  a 
genuine,  literal,  historic  account  of  certain  events  which 
transpired  in  England  in  the   year  1850.      This,  of 


PAPAL    AGGRESSION    IMPOSSIBLE.  349 

course,  would  of  itself  be  sufficient  tc  make  ten  Dr. 
Dickkopfs  turn  to  and  prove  the  contrary  ;  and  any  one 
of  them,  I  imagine,  might,  and  probably  would,  thus 
reply.     Excuse  his  clumsy  style.     He  would  say :  — 

"  *  That  there  may  have  been,  and  very  probably 
was,  some  nucleus  of  fact  which  may  have  served  as  a 
groundwork  for  these  pseudo-historical  memorials,  is 
not  denied :  but  to  regard  that  document  of  which  it  is 
professedly  a  condensation  as  a  genuine  record  of  the 
period  in  question,  can  only,  we  conceive,  be  the  infe- 
licity of  an  essentially  uncritical  mind.  Most  evidently, 
whether  we  regard  the  known  events  and  relations  of 
that  age  (as  far  as  they  have  come  down  to  us)  or  the 
internal  characteristics  of  the  document  itself,  we  dis- 
cover unequivocal  traces  of  an  unhistoric  origin.  Let 
us  look  at  both  these  sources  of  evidence  in  order.  If 
we  mistake  not,  the  document,  even  as  it  now  stands, 
bears  on  its  very  front,  that  the  original  document,  so 
far  from  being  a  literal  description  of  the  events  of  the 
time  to  which  it  professedly  related,  was  allegorical,  or 
at  most  historico-allegorical,  and  most  likely  designed 
broadly  to  caricature  and  satirize  some  perceived  ten- 
dencies or  conditions  of  the  English  religious  develop- 
ment in  certain  parties  of  that  age.  But  whether  it  be, 
or  be  not,  reducible  to  the  class  of  allegorico-ecclesias- 
tico-political  satire,  certainly  no  person  of  critical  dis- 
cernment can  for  a  moment  allow  it  to  be  a  literal 
statement  of  historic  events.  And  first  to  look  at  the 
internal  evidence. 

"  *  Is  it  possible  to  overlook  the  singular  character  of 
the  names  which  everywhere  meet  us  ?  They,  in  fact, 
tell  their  own  tale,  and  almost,  as  it  were,  proclaim  of 
themselves  that  they  are  allegorical.  Wiseman,  New- 
man (two  of  them,  be  it  observed),  Masterman,  Philpotts, 
Wilde,     Who,  that  has  been  gifted  with  even  a  mod- 

30 


350  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH*  14^ 

erate  share  of  critical  acumen,  can  fail  to  see  that  these 
are  all  fictitious  names,  invented  by  the  allegorist  either 
to  set  forth  certain  qualities  or  attributes  of  certain 
persons  whose  true  names  are  concealed,  or,  as  I  rather 
think,  to  embody  certain  tendencies  of  the  times,  or 
represent  certain  party  characteristics.  Thus  the  name 
"  Wiseman  "  is  evidently  chosen  to  represent  the  pro- 
verbial craft  which  was  attributed  to  the  Church  of 
Rome ;  and  Nicholas  has  also  been  chosen  (as  I  appre- 
hend) for  the  purpose  of  indicating  the  sources  whence 
that  craft  was  derived.  In  all  probability  the  name 
was  selected  just  in  the  same  manner  as  Bunyan  in  his 
immortal  Pilgrim's  Progress  (which  still  delights  the 
world)  has  chosen  "  Worldly  Wiseman  "  for  one  of  his 
characters.  It  is  said  that  he  was  a  Spaniard:  but 
who  so  fit  as  a  Spaniard  to  be  represented  as  the  agent 
of  the  Holy  See  ?  while,  as  there  never  was  a  Spaniard 
of  that  name,  every  one  can  see  that  historic  probability 
has  not  been  regarded.  The  word  "  Newman  "  again 
(and  observe  the  significant  fact  that  there  were  two 
of  them)  was,  in  all  probability,  I  may  say  certainly, 
designed  to  embody  two  opposite  tendencies,  both  of 
which,  perhaps,  claimed,  in  impatience  of  the  effete 
humanity  of  that  age  (a  dead  and  stereotyped  Prot- 
estantism), to  introduce  a  new  order  of  things.  These 
parties  (if  I  may  form  a  conjecture  from  the  document 
itself)  were  essaying  to  extricate  the  mind  of  the  age 
from  the  difficulties  of  its  intellectual  position ;  an  age, 
asserting  inconsistently,  on  the  one  hand,  the  freedom 
of  spiritual  life,  and,  on  the  other,  claiming  for  the  Bible 
an  authorized  supremacy  over  all  the  phenomena  of 
that  spiritual  life.  One  of  these  parties  sought  to  solve 
/  this  difficulty  by  endeavoring  to  resuscitate  the  spirit 
J  of  the  past ;  the  other,  by  attempting  to  set  human  in- 
1    teUect  and  consciousness  free  from  the  yoke  of  all  ex- 


PAPAL    AGGRESSION    IMPOSSIBLE.  351 

ternal  authority.  In  all  probability  the  namiis  were 
suggested  to  the  somewhat  profane  allegorico-satirical 
writer  by  that  text  in  the  English  version,  "  Put  on  the 
Newman,"  the  new  man  of  the  spirit.  We  are  almost 
driven  to  this  interpretation,  indeed,  by  the  extreme 
and  ludicrous  improbability  of  two  men  —  brothers, 
brought  up  at  the  same  university  —  gradually  receding, 
pari  passu,  from  the  same  point  in  opposite  directions, 
to  the  uttermost  extreme ;  one  till  he  had  embraced  the 
most  puerile  legends  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  other,  till 
he  had  proceeded  to  open  infidelity.  Probably  such  a 
curious  coincidence  of  events  was  never  heard  of  since 
the  world  began ;  and  this  must,  at  all  events,  be  re- 
jected. 

"  '  Similar  observations  apply  to  the  name  Masterman^ 
which,  in  ancient  English,  was  applied  to  him  who  was 
not  a  "servant"  or  "journeyman,"  and  is  not  unfitly 
used  to  indicate  collectively  the  assemblage  of  wealthy 
merchants  who,  like  those  of  Tyre,  were  "  princes  "  ;  as 
well  as  to  imply  that  the  powerful  class  to  which  they 
belonged  were  the  "  Mastermen  "  in  the  country,  and,  in 
fact,  spoke  in  a  potential  voice  in  all  such  crises  as  that 
supposed.  It  might  also,  perhaps,  be  designed  oblique- 
ly to  intimate,  that,  whatever  the  clergy  and  the  theolo- 
gians of  different  parties  might  wish  to  realize,  it  was, 
after  all,  the  powerful  and  independent  class  of  the  laity 
who  were  the  "  mastermen,"  and  would  not  succumb  to 
any  spiritual  guides  whatever,  even  though  called  by 
the  specious  names  of  "Wisemen  and  Newmen.  The 
mere  singularity  of  the  names  alone  ought  to  decide 
the  point.  And  what  further  confirms  our  view  is,  that 
it  is  impossible  to  point  out  any  Englishmen  of  any 
distinction  who  ever  had  any  of  these  names.  Here 
we  do  not  argue  from  conjecture,  after  merely  looking 
into  the  most  recent  biographical  repertories  (as,  for 


352  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

example,  the  "  Bibliotheca  Clarisimorum  Virorum,"  in 
three  hundred  and  fifty  volumes  folio) ;  for  it  is  no  ar- 
gument that  this  meagre  collection  makes  no  mention 
of  any  such  names ;  since,  in  the  successive  compila- 
tions of  such  works,  (as  the  world  grows  older,)  it  has 
been  found  necessary  to  extrude  from  time  to  time 
thousands  of  lesser  names,  which  had  twinkled  in  pre- 
ceding ages.  But,  deeply  anxious  to  establish  truth, 
we  have  at  infinite  pains  caused  to  be  fished  up,  from 
the  depths  of  the  archives  of  our  national  museums, 
very  rare  reprints  of  some  of  the  works  of  the  age  near- 
est that  in  which  these  events  are  said  to  have  occurred, 
and  in  none  of  these  works  is  there  an  individual  men- 
tioned of  the  name  of  Newman  or  Masterman,  and 
only  one  comparatively  obscure  person  of  the  name  of 
"Wiseman,  —  a  presumptive  proof  that  they  were  fic- 
titious names.  Is  it  possible  that  these  curious  and 
varied  coincidences  can  be  the  mere  effect  of  chance  ?  ' 

"  I  shall  spare  you,"  said  Harrington,  "  Dr.  Dickkopf's 
learned  etymological  disquisitions  on  the  names  Wilde 
and  Philpotts,  which,  aided  by  the  imputed  '  rashness  ^ 
of  the  one,  and  the  *  intoxicated  zeal '  of  the  other,  he 
clearly  demonstrated  to  be  fictitious. 

"  After  which,  I  will  suppose  him  to  proceed  thus :  — 
*  We  presume  we  have  said  enough  to  convince  any 
acute  and  candid  mind  of  the  extreme  improbability  of 
the  document  being  designed  to  convey  to  posterity  a 
literal  statement  of  facts ;  not  that  we  for  a  moment 
think  it  necessary  to  suppose  that  any  evil  design  actu- 
ated the  writer,  whoever  he  might  be.  It  was  most 
likely  intended,  as  we  have  already  said,  to  be  an 
allegorico-political  caricature  of  certain  events  which 
did  undeniably  occur,  and  which  formed  a  slender  basis 
of  historic  fact  on  which  to  found  it. 

"  *  Nor  is  th3  particularity  of  some  of  the  dates  and 


PAPAL    AGGRESSION    IxMPOSSIBLE.  353 

alleged  circumstances  of  much  weight  in  our  judgment. 
He  must  be  a  miserable  inventor  of  fiction  indeed,  who 
cannot  clothe  a  narrative  in  some  verisimilitude  of  this 
kind.  It  is  said,  that  the  historian  makes  a  seeming 
refereuiie  to  those  who  were  living  at  the  very  time. 
"  Some,"  he  says,  "  still  sarvive."  But  who  does  not 
see  that  the  word  "  survive ''  may  refer  to  the  accounts 
(which  he,  it  appears,  knew  little  how  to  interpret),  not 
the  persons;  though,  be  it  observed,  that  on  such  a 
supposition  he  does  not  vouch  for  having  seen  them,  and 
may  have  spoken  merely  from  report.  This  very  clause, 
too,  has  undeniably  much  the  appearance  of  an  inter- 
polation. There  are  many  other  little  circumstances, 
which,  to  those  who  have  been  accustomed  to  detect 
unhistoric  characteristics  in  ancient  documents,  and  to 
draw  a  sharp  line  between  the  mythic  or  allegoric  and 
the  historic,  sufficiently  proclaim  the  origin  of  this  sup- 
posed narrative  of  facts. 

" '  But  the  internal  evidence,  conclusive  as  it  is,  is  as 
nothing  to  the  external.  If  we  examine  the  document 
by  the  light  of  the  facts  which  contemporary  history 
supplies,  nay,  even  by  the  probability  or  otherwise  of 
its  own  contents,  we  shall  see  the  extreme  absurdity  of 
supposing  that  the  account  from  which  it  was  borrowed 
was  ever  meant  to  be  a  record  of  facts.  We  hesitate 
not  to  say,  that  the  political  facts  of  which  it  makes 
mention  are  many  of  them  in  the  highest  degree  in- 
credible. That  there  may  have  been  a  rebellion  at 
Rome  is  very  possible ;  but  assuredly  the  only  nation 
in  Europe,  (if  we  except  England,)  that  was  not  likely 
to  take  the  Pope's  part  against  a  republican  movement, 
or  reseat  him  on  his  throne,  was  the  French.  To  sup- 
pose them  thus  acting  is  contrary  to  all  that  we  know 
of  the  history  of  that  nation,  and  of  human  nature. 
The  traces  of  the  terrible  revolutions  which  in  that 
30  • 


354  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH/ f«^ 

century,  and  at  the  close  of  the  preceding  one,  shook 
France  again  and  again  to  her  centre,  and  the  out- 
lines of  which  still  live  in  authentic  history,  all  show 
the  extent  to  which  infidelity  and  democratic  violence 
prevailed  in  France ;  nay,  we  know  that  during  the  do- 
minion of  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  if  we  are  to  regard  his 
history  as  literally  true,  and  not  a  collection  of  fables  and 
legends,*  as  some  even  of  that  age  maintained,  that 
great  conqueror  arrested  and  imprisoned  the  Pope. 
That  France  should  have  undertaken  the  task  of  sub- 
duing a  republican  movement,  "just  when  she  had  come 
out  of  a  similar  revolution,  or  rather  many  such,  —  and 
of  reseating  the  Pope  on  his  throne,  when  she  had  been 
more  impatient  of  the  restraints  of  all  religion  than  any 
other  nation  in  Europe,  —  is  perfectly  incredible  !  Not 
less  improbable  is  it  that,  supposing  (as  may  perhaps 
be  true)  that  there  was  a  basis  of  fact  in  the  asserted  re- 
bellion of  the  Romans,  and  Pio  Nono's  restoration  to 
his  dominions  (though  not  by  France,  that  the  intelli- 
gent reader  will  on  politico-logical  grounds  pronounce 
impossible,  but  more  probably  by  the  Spaniards),  —  yet 
can  we  suppose  that  a  power  which  was  always  cele- 
brated for  its  astuteness  and  subtlety  would  choose  that 
very  moment  of  humiliation  and  ignominy  to  rush  into 
an  act  so  audacious  as  that  of  reestablishing  the  Rom- 
ish hierarchy  in  England,  —  in  a  nation  by  far  the  most 
powerful  in  the  world  at  that  time,  —  a  nation  which,  if 
it  had  pleased,  could  have  blown  Rome  into  the  air  in 
three  months?  It  must  needs  have  strengthened  a 
thousand-fold  the  strong  antipathies  of  the  English  to 
the  See  of  Rome.  It  would,  indeed,  have  justified  that 
storm  of  indignation  with  which  it  is  said  to  have  been 
met. 


*  Dr.  Dickkopf  may  be  here  supposed  to  refer  to  the  "  Historic  Doubts" 
of  Archbishop  Whately,  which  may  well  deceive  even  more  astute  critics. 


PAPAL    AGGRESSION    IMPOSSIBLE.  355 

"  <  There  is  much  that  is  palpably  improbable  in  many- 
other  parts  of  the  statement  (simple  as  it  seems  to  be) 
when  submitted  to  the  searching  spirit  of  modern  criti- 
cism. How  ridiculous  is  the  story  of  Cardinal  Wise- 
man's pretending  that  the  oath  in  receiving  the  Pallium 
had  been  modified  for  his  convenience  ;  little  less  so,  in- 
deed, than  his  challenge  to  his  Presbyterian  antagonist 
to  examine  it,  and  that,  too,  in  the  very  book  in  which 
the  contested  clause  was  not  cancelled  I  All  this  is 
such  a  maze  of  absurdity,  that  it  is  impossible  to  believe 
it.  In  the  first  place,  do  we  not  know  that,  throughout 
the  whole  history  of  the  Papal  power,  the  inflexible 
character,  not  only  of  its  doctrines,  but  of  its  official 
forms  and  solemnities,  was  always  maintained,  and 
that  this  pertinacity  was  continually  placing  it  at  a  dis- 
advantage in  the  contest  with  the  more  flexible  spirit  of 
Protestantism?  It  would  not  renounce,  in  terms  or 
words,  the  very  things  which  it  did  renounce  in  deeds, 
and  never  could  prevail  upon  itself  to  get  over  this  un- 
accommodating spirit !  Yet  here  we  are  to  beUeve  that, 
at  the  Cardinal's  request,  a  certain  part  of  a  most  sol- 
emn ceremonial  — that  of  receiving  the  Pallium  —  was 
remitted  by  the  Pope !  If  it  were  so,  the  Cardinal 
would  certainly  have  desired  to  conceal  it.  If  he  could 
not  have  done  that,  he  would,  at  least,  never  have  given 
so  easy  a  triumph  to  his  adversary  as  to  challenge  him 
to  inspect  the  very  copy  of  the  Pontifical,  in  w^hich,  af- 
ter all,  the  oath  was  not  cancelled,  in  order  that  he 
might  be  satisfied  that  it  was  !  Who  can  believe  that 
a  Cardinal  of  the  Romish  Church,  Wiseman  or  fool, 
would  have  been  simple  enough  for  such  a  step  as  this  ? 
It  is  plain  that  the  historian  himself  was  not  unaware 
that  such  an  objection  would  immediately  suggest  it- 
self, and  endeavors  to  guard  against  it,  —  a  suspicious 
circumstance  in  itself^  —  which  may  serve  to  warn  us 


356  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

how  little  we  can  depend  on  the    historic  character  of 
the  document. 

" '  Again  ;  what  can  be  more  improbable,  than  thatj 
when  a  great  nation  was  convulsed  from  one  end  to  the 
other,  as  the  English  are  said  to  have  been,  there  should 
have  been  no  violence,  not  even  accidentally,  attending 
those  huge  and  excited  assemblages ;  a  thing  so  natu- 
ral, nay,  so  certain!  Who  can  believe  that  only  one 
man  was  sacrificed,  and  he  on  the  predominant  side  ? 
I  have  discovered  in  my  laborious  researches  on  this 
important  subject,  that  only  seventy  years  before,  when 
a  cry  of  the  same  nature,  but  much  less  potent,  was 
raised,  London  was  filled  with  conflagration  and  blood- 
shed. Who  ever  heard,  indeed,  of  commotion  such  as 
this  is  pretended  to  have  been,  and  its  ending  in  vox  et 
prceterea  nihil? 

" '  It  is  superfluous  to  point  out  the  absurdity  of  sup- 
posing a  Cardinal  of  the  E-omish  Church  lecturing  the 
people  of  England  on  "  the  claims  of  religious  liberty  "  ; 
or  so  great  a  nation,  in  such  a  paroxysm,  spending 
many  months  in  the  concoction  of  a  measure  confessed 
to  be  a  feeble  one,  and  suffered  to  be  broken  with  im- 
punity ! 

"  *  But,  lastly,  my  laborious  researches  have  led  to  the 
important  discovery,  that,  in  this  very  year  of  pretended 
hot  commotion,  England  —  in  peace  with  all  the  world, 
profound  peace  within  and  profound  peace  without — 
celebrated  a  sort  of  jubilee  of  the  nations,  in  a  vast 
building  of  glass  (wonderful  for  those  times),  called  the 
Great  Exhibition,  to  which  every  country  had  contrib- 
uted specimens  of  the  comparatively  rude  manufactures 
of  that  rude  age !  London  was  filled  with  foreigners 
from  all  parts  of  the  earth ;  the  whole  kingdom  was  in 
a  commotion,  indeed,  but  a  commotion  of  hospitable 
festivity,  in  which  it  shook  hands  with  all  the  world  ^ 


PAPAL    AGGRESSION    IMPOSSIBLE.  357 

This  is  a  piece  of  positive  evidence  which  ought  to  set- 
tle the  whole  matter.  In  short,  the  external  and  inter- 
nal evidence  alike  warrants  us  in  rejecting  this  absurd 
story  as  utterly  incredible.'  " 

"  Upon  my  word,"  said  young  Robinson,  "  you  have 
said  more  than  I  thought  you  could  have  said  on  such 
a  theme.  I  really  almost  doubt  whether  Dr.  Dickkopf 
has  not  the  best  of  it,  and  whether  we  ought  not  to 
agree  that  the  '  Papal  Aggression  '  is  a  sheer  delusion." 

"  O,"  said  Harrington,  "  I  have  not  given  you  half 
the  arguments  by  which  an  historian,  eighteen  hundred 
years  hence,  might  prove  that  what  has  actually  oc- 
curred never  could  have  occurred,  and  that  what  has 
not  occurred  must,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  have 
occurred,  by  a  necessity  alike  political,  historical,  ethi- 
cal, logical,  and  psychological.  And  no  doubt  Dr* 
Dickkopf  is  right  on  the  principles  on  which  acute 
critics  may  argue ;  that  is,  the  assumption  that  certain 
probabilities  will  justify  conclusions  on  such  subjects. 
One  might  naturally  have  supposed  the  Pope  to  have 
been  more  politic  than  to  take  this  step,  —  the  French 
more  consistent  than  to  suppress  the  Republican  move- 
ment of  Italy,  —  the  English  less  moderate  in  express- 
ing their  indignation,  —  and  certainly  that  there  would 
never  have  been  such  an  array  of  odd  names  to  gar- 
nish one  brief  document.  And  now,  I  bethink  me, 
it  is  far  from  impossible  that  some  Dr.  Dickkopf  may 
even  apply  to  Strauss's  Leben  Jesu,  and  Dr.  Whately's 
*  Historic  Doubts '  similar  reasoning,  to  prove  that  the 
first  was  elaborate  irony,  and  the  second  a  sincere  ex- 
pression of  scepticism." 

"  How  can  that  be  ?  " 

"  Thus :  he  will  prove  that  the  age  was  remarkably 
fond  of  such  species  of  ironical  literature.    As  Strauss, 


358  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH."      ^■ 

in  his  preface,  has  expressly  admitted  (though  we  all 
know  what  he  means)  that  Christianity  is  true,  and  has 
suggested  an  unimaginably  absurd  hypothesis  as  to  its 
true  import,  founded  on  the  principles  of  the  Hegelian 
philosophy,  the  learned  Dr.  Dickkopf  will  say,  that  no 
one  who  so  spoke  of  Christianity  could  have  intended 
seriously  to  discredit  it,  and  yet  certainly  could  not 
possibly  believe  the  absurd  theory  of  it  concocted  out 
of  German  philosophy ;  ergo^  that  we  must  regard  the 
whole  book  as  a  piece  of  prolonged  irony,  —  a  little  too 
characteristic  of  German  pedantry,  it  is  true,  but  sin- 
cerely designed  to  expose  that  extravagance  of  historic 
criticism  and  Biblical  exegesis  which  had  so  distin- 
guished the  author's  countrymen,  by  which  Homer  had 
been  annihilated,  a  great  part  of  ancient  history  ren- 
dered doubtful,  and  the  Bible  turned  into  a  riddle-book ; 
that  this  hypothesis  is  confirmed  by  the  space  which 
Strauss  gives  to  the  exposure  of  the  absurdities  of  the 
Rationalists,  which,  in  fact,  occupies  at  least  half  his 
work.  Dr.  D.  will  even  very  likely  prove  that  Strauss 
/  himself  is  a  fictitious  name ;  Strauss,  in  the  German, 
C^/  meaning  an  ostrich,  which,  according  to  the  proverb,  can 
^1  digest  any  thing.  On  the  other  hand,  as  he  will  be  able 
to  show  that  Strauss's  work  is  a  piece  of  prolonged 
irony,  he  will  very  likely  show  that  Whately's  *  His- 
toric Doubts '  may  be  a  sincere  expression  of  opinion 
(which,  in  fact,  many  have  even  in  our  day  wisely  be- 
lieved it  to  be),  and  he  will  argue  it  with  a  gravity  wor- 
thy of  one  of  the  commentators  who  interpret  the  irony 
of  Socrates  literally ;  he  will  prove  it  from  the  air  of 
sobriety  and  sincerity  which  pervades  the  pamphlet. 
Nay,  for  aught  I  know,  he  may  show  that  there  was  an 
*  historic  place '  for  such  a  piece  in  the  undoubted  myths 
to  which  the  wondrous  achievements  of  Napoleon  had 
given  rise ;  he  will  say  that  these  had  produced  a  natu- 


PAPAL    AGGRESSION    IMPOSSIBLE.  359 

ral  feeling  of  scepticism  as  to  the  greater  part  of  the 
facts,  though  he  will  think  Dr.  Whately  has  gone  a 
little  too  far  in  doubting  his  very  existence ;  there  being 
sufficient  evidence  that  such  a  man  as  Napoleon  existed, 
although  the  world  really  knows  little  more  about  him 
than  about  Semiramis  or  Genghis  Khan ! " 

"  Well,"  said  I,  "  having  proved  that  Dr.  Strauss's 
work  is  irony,  and  Whately's  brochure  a  sincere  ex- 
pression of  opinion,  it  would  be  hard  for  even  Dr.  Dick- 
kopf  to  go  further.  But,  seriously,  it  is  no  laughing 
matter.  This  is  a  strange  power  the  future  historian 
has  over  us." 

"O,  be  assured,"  said  Harrington,  "  he  can  make  of 
us  just  what  he  pleases.  Never  was  a  question  more 
unreasonable  than  that  of  the  Irishman,  who,  being  con- 
jured, on  some  occasion,  to  think  of  posterity^  said,  *  I 
should  like  to  know  what  posterity  has  done  for  us.'  It  X^ 
will  do  something  for  us,  depend  upon  it.  A  future 
historian  will  not  only  make  us  confess,  with  the 
Prayer-Book,  *  that  we  have  done  the  things  we  ought 
not  to  have  done,  and  have  left  undone  the  things  we 
ought  to  have  done,'  but  *  that  we  have  done  the  things 
that  we  have  not  done,  and  have  left  undone  the  things 
that  we  have  done.'  " 

"  I  wonder,"  said  I,  "  that  some  of  Dr.  Strauss's 
countrymen  have  not  proved  him  to  be  an  imaginary 
being,  —  a  myth.  It  were  very  easy  to  do  it  on  such 
principles." 

"  It  has  been  done  long  since,"  said  Harrington,  "by 
Wolfgang  Menzel."  , 

"  Thank  you,"  said  I,  in  conclusion,  "  you  have  clear- 
ly proved  that  a  true  history  may  plausibly  be  shown  \ 
to  he  false J^ 

"  And  therefore,  my  dear  uncle,  you  will,  I  hope, 
justify  my  scepticism   in   all   such   matters,"  said  he 


360 


THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 


archly.  I  acknowledge,  as  Socrates  says,  that  1  felt  for 
a  moment  as  if  I  had  received  a  sudden  blow,  and  hard- 
ly knew  what  to  say.  "  No,"  said  I  at  last,  "  unless  you 
can  justify  Dr.  Strauss's  theory  of  historical  criticism, 
of  which  you  yourself  acknowledge  you  have  doubts. 
With  that  any  thing  may  be  proved  false ;  meantime  it 
appears  that  the  facts  to  which  it  is  applied  may  be  un- 
/  doubtedly  true.^^ 


On  retiring  to  my  chamber,  I  mused  for  some  time 
on  the  facility  with  which  man's  ingenuity  or  inclina- 
tions can  pervert  any  facts  which  he  resolves  shall  be 
otherwise  than  they  are.  "  Dubious  as  is  the  Evidence," 
Harrington  was  fond  of  saying,  "  I  distrust  the  Judge 
still  more  "  ;  an  admission,  I  told  him,  of  which  I  should 
one  day  remind  him.  Tired  at  last  of  this  unpleasant 
theme,  I  took  up  a  volume  of  Leibnitz's  Theodicee, 
which  happened  to  lie  on  the  table,  and  read  those 
striking  passages  towards  the  conclusion  in  which  he 
represents  Theodore  (reluctant  to  accept  the  iron  theory 
of  necessity)  as  privileged  with  a  peep  into  a  number 
of  the  infinite  possible  worlds ;  from  which  he  has  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  that,  bad  as  is  the  lot  of  Sextus  in 
the  best  of  all  possible  worlds,  that  lot,  Sextus  being 
what  he  is,  could  not  possibly  be  any  better ;  a  queer 
consolation,  by  the  way,  till  we  know  why  Sextus  must 
be  what  he  is,  or  why  Sextus  must  be  at  all. 

I  sank  off  to  slumber  in  my  chair,  no  doubt  under  the 
soporific  effects  of  this  metaphysical  morphine.  While 
I  slept,  the  previous  discussions  of  the  day  and  the 
dose  of  Theodicee  operating  together  suggested  a  very 
strange  dream,  which  I  shall  here  record.  It  shall  be 
entitled 


[  THE  PARADISE  OF  FOOLS.  361 

The  Paradise  of  Fools. 

Methought  I  saw  a  grave  and  very  venerable  .  .d  m<x  •! 
with  a  long  white  beard  enter  my  chamber,  and  quietly 
seat  himself  opposite  to  me.  Instead  of  asking  who  he 
was  and  how  he  came  there,  nothing  seemed  more 
natural  and  proper.  We  all  know  how  easily  in  dreams 
the  mind  dispenses  with  all  ceremony ;  little  or  no  in- 
troduction is  required ;  every  one  is  at  once  on  a  most 
delightful  footing  of  familiarity  with  all  the  world;  and 
the  greatest  possible  incongruities  appear  just  comme  il 
fauU 

He  told  me  that  he  had  come  from  a  very  curi- 
ous part  of  the  "best  of  all  possible  worlds,"  —  the 
"  Paradise  of  Fools " ;  and  on  my  looking  surprised, 
said,  — 

"  Are  you  ignorant,  then,  that  there  is  a  spot  in  the 
universe  where  a  vicegerent  of  the  Deity  has  at  his  dis- 
posal unlimited  power  and  wisdom  to  enable  him  to 
comply  with  the  somewhat  whimsical  conditions  of  the 
theories  of  those  wonderful  philosophers  who  have 
taken  upon  them  to  say  how  the  universe  might  have 
been  constructed  without  any  supreme  or  presiding  in- 
telligence at  all ;  or  have  modestly  suggested,  that, 
had  they  been  consulted,  certain  notable  improvements 
might  have  been  effected  in  its  fabrication  or  govern- 
ment; or,  lastly,  who  have  complained  of  the  revelation 
which  God  has  vouchsafed  to  man,  or  contended,  that, 
if  true,  it  might  have  been  more  unexceptionably  framed, 
and  more  skilfully  promulgated  ?  " 

"  And  what  is  the  result  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  The  result  is  a  part  of  '  the  everlasting  shame  and 
contempt '  which  are  the  heritage  of  impiety." 

"  There  must  have  been  enough  for  the  said  vicege- 
rent to  do,"  I  remarked. 

31 


362  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  Not  SO  much  as  you  imagine,"  said  he,  smiling. 
"  The  conditions  of  their  theories,  so  far  as  even  om- 
niscience can  comprehend  or  omnipotence  realize  them, 
are  indeed  exactly  complied  with ;  but  nevertheless, 
they  often  baffle  both.  Sometimes  the  reproof,  thus 
implied,  obliquely  strikes  more  than  its  immediate  ob- 
jects ;  it  alights  even  on  some  of  the  profoundest  phi- 
losophers, who  never  had  it  in  their  thoughts  to  call  in 
question  the  infinite  superiority  of  Divine  Power  and 
Wisdom,  but  who  have  delivered  themselves  a  little  too 
positively  about  *  monads  '  and  '  atoms,'  and  ultimate 
constituents  of  the  universe.  They  have  sometimes 
been  not  a  little  scandalized,  as  well  as  laughed  at, 
when  some  half-witted,  muddle-headed  followers,  glad 
to  escape  their  trial,  pretended  to  have  founded  systems 
of  Pantheism,  or  what  is  just  the  same  thing.  Athe- 
ism, on  some  of  their  too  obscure  definitions.  One 
man  declared  that  he  could  do  nothing  without  the 
Monads  of  Leibnitz,  each  of  which,  says  that  philoso- 
pher, *is  a  mirror  representing  the  universe,  though 
obscurely,  and  knows  every  thing,  but  confusedly,' 
which  last  clause  is  unexceptionable  enough.  Another 
rogue  asked  for  the  archetypes  of  Plato,  —  he  had  had 
a  notion,  he  said,  that  a  good  deal  might  be  made  out 
of  them  without  Plato's  Demiurgus ;  another,  for  the 
constituents  of  the  vital  automata  of  Descartes :  he  had 
been  misled  to  believe,  that,  if  animals  could  be  mechan- 
ically produced,  the  whole  universe  might  have  been  so 
produced  also.  The  Archangel  assured  them  and  others, 
with  much  politeness,  that,  if  the  philosophers  in  ques- 
tion could  in  any  way  make  their  meaning  intelligible, 
Heaven  would  do  its  poor  best  to  realize  their  concep- 
tions ;  but  that  it  was  impossible  for  even  omnipotence 
to  ^ecute  commands  which  even  omniscience  could  not 
comprehend. 


THE  PARADISE  OF  FOOLS.  363 

"  Similarly,  one  man  requested  that  he  might  be  pro- 
vided with  a  little  of  Aristotle's  '  Eternal  Matter,'  but 
he  was  told  that  there  was  no  such  thing  in  rerum 
naturd^  and  that  it  was  unfortunately  too  late  to  make 
it.  He  seemed  to  think  himself  very  unjustly  treated. 
Another  demanded  some  of  the  Atoms  of  Epicurus,  to 
make  a  slight  experiment  with ;  unexceptionably  spheri- 
cal, invisible,  and  so  forth.  These,  he  was  told,  he 
might  be  accommodated  with ;  and  that  all  he  had  to 
do  was  to  shake  them  long^  enovgh^  and  doubtless  the 
fortuitous  jumble  would  come  out  at  last  a  miniature 
world. 

"  Above  all,  there  were  several  German  philosophers, 
who,  having  founded  various  physical  theories,  more  or 
less  extensive,  on  the  perspicuous  mataphysics  of  their 
countrymen,  were  confident  that,  if  they  had  not  hit  on 
the  modes  which  Supreme  Wisdom  had  adopted,  their 
modes  were  yet  very  excellent  modes  ;  and  they  were 
absolutely  clamorous  that  their  experiments  should 
begin.  But,  alas !  many  of  them  stood  but  little  chance 
of  being  ever  tried,  for  the  very  same  reason  which 
prevented  the  disciple  of  Leibnitz  from  obtaining  his 
<  Monads' ;  their  authors  could  not  make  their  meaning 
intelligible  to  the  delegated  omniscience.  As  to  some 
of  the  metaphysicians,  since  their  theories  embraced 
nothing  less  than  the  evolution  of  the  '  totality  '  of  the 
universe,  the  'infinite'  and  the  'absolute'  included,  it 
was  of  course  impossible  that  they  could  be  tried.  But 
it  was  thought  an  appropriate  punishment  for  them  to 
be  condemned  to  write  on  till  they  had  made  their  mean 
ing  intelligible.  Some  have  labored  with  incredible 
industry  to  comply  with  this  very  reasonable  request, 
but  their  notions  seem  to  grow  darker  and  darker  at 
every  step ;  and  one  in  particular  has  written  a  huge 
folio,  in  which,  by  universal  consent  of  men  and  angels. 


364  THE    ECLIPSE    OP    FAITH. 

there  is  not  the  smallest  glimmer  of  meaning  froimr  one 
end  to  the  other.  Another  even  complains  in  private 
of  the  want  of  philosophical  genius  in  the  court  of 
celestial  criticism,  and  declares  that  in  Germany  they 
could  have  constructed  ten  theories  of  the  universe  and 
given  twenty  solutions  of  the  '  infinite  '  and  the  *  abso- 
lute '  in  the  time  he  has  been  vainly  endeavoring  to  ex- 
plain his  meaning  to  personages  so  deplorably  deficient 
in  metaphysical  acumen." 

He  was  going  on  with  some  other  details  of  the  hap- 
less philosophers. 

"  I  would  much  rather  hear  from  you,"  said  I,  "  for 

it  is  a  subject  in  which  I  take  a  far  deeper  interest, 

how  those  have  sped  who  have  objected  to  the  Revela- 

!  tion  with  which  God  has  favored  man,  on  the  ground 

that  it  cannot  be  true,  else  it  would  have  been  more  un- 

i  exceptionably  framed  or  more  wisely  promulgated.     I 

i  take  it  for  granted  that  these  have  not  been  destitute  of 

^opportunities  of  trying  their  experiment." 

"  Surely  not,"  replied  my  new  acquaintance.  " '  The 
Paradise  of  Fools '  is  well  stocked  with  creatures  of  this 
description.  Many  of  the  experiments  which  required 
time  to  test  them  were  commenced  hundreds  of  years 
ago,  and  are  completed.  Others  are  still  unfinished, 
while  there  have  been  many  which  required  only  to  be 
commenced  and  they  were  completed  instantly,  to  the 
confusion  of  their  authors." 

"  I  should  much  like,"  said  I,  "  to  hear  an  account  of 
some  of  these  experiments." 

"  Willingly,"  answered  he ;  "  only  you  must  bear  in 
mind  that  they  were  all  to  be  performed  under  certain 
limitations,  without  which  no  revelation  which  God  can 
give  to  man  would  be  of  the  slightest  value." 

He  then  informed  me,  that  the  evidence  afforded 
must  not  be  such  as  to  annihilate  the  conditions  on 


THE  PARADISE  OF  FOOLS.  365 

which  man  is  to  be  made  virtuous  and  happy,  if  he  is 
to  be  made  so  at  all.  It  must  not  be  inconsistent  with 
the  exercise  of  either  his  reason  or  his  faith,  nor  pre- 
vent the  play  of  his  moral  dispositions,  nor  triumph  by 
mere  violence  over  his  prejudices;  it  must  not  operate 
purely  upon  the  passions  or  the  senses,  nor  overbear  all 
possibility  of  offering  resistance,  —  as  would  be  the 
case,  for  example,  if  a  man  were  placed  on  the  edge  of 
a  precipice,  and  told  that  he  would  immediately  be 
thrown  over  it  if  he  transgressed  the  rules  of  temper- 
ance or  chastity.  The  happiness,  he  said,  which  God 
originally  designed  for  his  intelligent  and  moral  crea-  j 
tures  was  a  voluntary  happiness,  springing  out  of  the 
well-balanced  and  well-directed  activity  of  all  the  prin- 
ciples of  their  nature.  Any  revelation,  therefore,  must 
proceed  on  the  same  basis,  both  as  regards  itself  and_.^ 
the  mode  in  which  it  is  given.  Arguments  and  motives 
morally  sufficient,  but  not  more  than  sufficient,  must 
be  addressed  to  the  intellect  and  the  conscience.  All 
this  is  necessary  to  render  the  felicity  and  perfection  of 
man  stable  and  permanent;  for  without  such  a  trial, 
triumphantly  sustained,  he  would  have  no  security  that, 
in  the  presence  of  objects  which  tend  to  exert  an  over- 
powering influence  on  his  senses  or  his  feelings,  he 
might  not  at  some  period  of  the  unknown  future  be 
impelled  to  take  a  wrong  path,  and  err  and  be  miserable. 
This  ordeal,  originally  designed  for  man  and  not  super- 
seded by  revelation,  must  be  continued  long  enough  to 
render  the  principles  on  which  he  ought  to  act  practical 
habits ;  after  which  he  may  go  forth  (sublime  and  glo- 
rious privilege  I)  to  any  part  of  this  world,  or  of  any 
world  to  which  God  may  call  him,  master  of  himself 
and  his  destiny;  not  afraid  lest  temptations  should 
warp  him  from  a  steadfastness  that  is  founded  on  the 
decisions  of  an  inflexible  will,  itself  directed  by  enlight- 

31  • 


366  ti:e  eclipse  of  faith. 

ened  intelligence  and  moral  rectitude ;  in  a  word,  in 
possession  of  the  appropriate  and  alone  appropriate 
happiness  of  an  intellectual  and  moral  agent ;  an  image 
of  the  felicity  of  the  great  Creator  himself.  This  con- 
dition, he  said,  of  giving  a  revelation,  so  far  from  being 
a  hardship,  is  not  only  in  harmony  with  the  nature  of 
things,  but  is  itself  an  expression  of  the  Divine  Benefi- 
cence ;  which  designed  for  man  no  casual,  precarious 
safety,  as  the  result  of  transient  external  violence  to 
the  principles  of  his  nature,  but  a  permanent  and  invio- 
lable equilibrium  of  the  powers  within  him.  "  Heaven 
itself,"  he  concluded,  "  can  be  heaven  only  to  those  who 
are  internally  prepared  for  it." 

"  Were  there  many,"  I  cried,  "  who  were  willing  to 
make  the  experiment  of  giving  a  revelation  more  un- 
exceptionably  than  it  has  been  given,  on  the  proposed 
conditions  ?  " 

"  Not  very  many,  as  you  may  well  suppose,"  said  he  ; 
"  but  if  objectors  had  been  unwilling,  they  would  have 
been  compelled  to  make  it." 

"  But  upon  whom  were  the  experiments  to  be  made  ?  " 
said  I ;  "for  unless  they  were  beings  of  the  same  intel- 
lectual and  moral  condition  as  themselves,  I  see  not 
how  aught  could  come  of  it." 

"  O,  be  satisfied,"  he  replied ;  "  the  beings  who  are 
provided  for  these  Projectors  are  as  like  the  inhabitants 
of  your  world  as  one  egg  is  like  another.  They  are 
men  themselves ;  communities  made  up  of  those  who 
have  lived  in  your  world,  and  who  have  gone  out  of  it 
with  the  same  thoughts,  passions,  and  emotions  as  they 
had  on  earth ;  many  of  them  having  rejected  or  disre- 
garded the  true  revelation,  and  others  never  having  had 
that  revelation  to  reject.  Of  course  they  are  ignorant, 
in  this  intermediate  state,  of  the  tricks  which  these  ex- 
perimenters play  with  them,  till  they  are  concluded  ; 


THE  PARADISE  OF  FOOLS.  367 

but  in  rejecting  the  new  revelations,  many  of  them 
reject  the  very  conditions  of  belief  which  when  on  earth 
they  said  wou/d  have  been  sufficient,  while  the  result 
in  those  who  make  the  experiment  and  in  those  on 
whom  the  experiment  is  made  is  to  '  vindicate  the 
ways  of  God  to  man.'  " 

There  is  a  wonderful  power  in  getting  over  trifling 
difficulties  in  our  dreams,  or  I  should  certainly  have 
demurred  to  some  parts  of  this  statement.  Instead  of 
that,  I  let  my  mind,  as  usual  in  such  cases,  dwell  on 
a  point  which  was  no  difficulty  at  all.  "  If,"  said  I, 
"  they  are  dead,  they  are  probably  very  different  beings 
from  what  they  were  when  alive."  i 

"  And  do  you  think,"  said  he,  with  an  unpleasant 
half-sneer,  "  that  mere  change  of  place  makes  any  dif- 
ference in  man,  or  that  the  merely  physical  effects  of 
death  operate  a  magical  change  on  his  intellect,  affec- 
tions, emotions,  and  volitions,  or  can  render  him  a  more 
reasonable  creature  than  he  was  before  ?  " 

"  I  did  not  mean  exactly  that,"  said  I ;  "  but  surely  it 
is  not  possible  that  the  soul  without  the  body  can  be 
exactly  like  the  soul  with  it." 

"  Have  not  your  philosophers,"  said  he,  "  often 
founded,  or  pretended  to  found,  scepticism  on  the  argu- 
ment that  it  is  difficult  to  tell  whether  life  itself  may 
not  be  a  series  of  illusions  like  those  in  dreams  ?  Have 
they  not  even  declared,  that,  as  in  dreams  all  seems  to 
be  real,  so  in  their  waking  moments  all  may  be  no  more 
than  a'dream?  nay,  have  not  some  said  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  tell  which  is  the  real  and  which  the  dream- 
ing part  of  their  existence  ?  " 

"  There  have  been  such,"  said  I,  "  but  I  never  knew 
any  one  convinced  by  their  reasoning." 

"  Perhaps  not,"  he  answered,  "  but  it  may  be  of  use 
to  show  jou,  that  in  that  intermediate  state  men  may, 


•<r  v^ 


368  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

as  in  dreams,  be  capable  of  a  series  of  thoughts  and 
emotions  exactly  similar  to  what  they  experienced  in 
this  world  ;  quite  as  vivid,  and,^'  he  adcfed  with  a  quiet 
smile,  "  perhaps  as  rational." 

"  But  they  must  be  more  coherent  than  those  which 
now  visit  our  slumbers,"  said  I. 

"  It  is  hardly  worth  while  to  contend  about  the  dif- 
ference," he  replied,  with  a  sarcastic  expression  which  I 
did  not  much  like.  "  It  is  sufficient  to  say,  however, 
that  these  projectors  have  no  reason  to  complain ;  for 
with  whatever  show  of  reason  men  think  or  act  here, 
BO  under  exactly  the  same  laws  of  thought  and  emotion 
do  those  shadows  act  there." 

"  But  I,  who  am  now  awake  and  perfectly  sen- 
sible   " 

He  laughed  outright.  "  Are  you  so  sure,"  said  he, 
"  that  you  are  awake.     How  do  you  know  it  ?  " 

"  Because  I  am  conscious  of  it,"  said  I. 

"  And  this  too,  I  suppose,  is  a  philosopher,"  he  mut- 
tered to  himself.  "  Well,"  he  continued  aloud,  "  we 
must  not  discuss  these  matters  just  now;  you  must 
believe  me  when  I  say  that  the  communities  to  which 
our  experimenters  go  to  work,  on  their  own  hypotheses, 
are  just  as  capable  of  ingenious  reasoning  and  impartial 
and  candid  deliberation,  as  you  are  now  in  your  present 
waking  moments.  You  wish  to  hear  a  few  of  these 
experiments  ?  " 

I  nodded. 

"  Well,  then,  first,  there  was  one  worthy  philosopher, 
who,  having  seen  the  advantages  w^hich  infidehty  has 
gained  from  the  discrepancies  and  other  difficulties 
occasioned  by  the  varied  testimonies  which  the  evan- 
gelical historians  have  left  behind  them,  resolved,  after 
having  wrought  a  number  of  splendid  miracles  (uni- 
formly affirmed  and  never  denied   by  the   parties   in 


THE  PARADISE  OF  FOOLS.  369 

whose  presence  they  were  pirformed),  that  they  should 
all  be  consigned  to  one  single  history,  so  admirably  con- 
structed that  tfiere  was  not  a  single  discrepancy  from 
beginning  to  end." 

"  And  what  was  the  effect  ?  " 

"  Why,  in  the  first  place,  you  must  recollect  that,  ac- 
cording to  that  or  any  other  mode  of  authenticating  a 
divine  communication  by  miracles,  there  were  a  great 
many  more  of  those  who  never  saw  the  miracles  than 
of  those  who  did ;  for  if  miracles  had  been  common, 
they  would  have  ceased  to  be  miracles.  There  were 
vast  numbers,  therefore,  who,  even  in  the  age  in  which 
they  were  performed,  never  believed  them  ;  but,  what  is 
more,  in  four  generations  there  was  not  a  soul  that  did 
not  treat  them  as  old  wives'  fables." 

"  Surely  they  were  very  unreasonable,"  I  said. 

"  Not  at  all ;  it  was  inevitable  ;  for  it  was  asked  (and 
every  one  assented  to  it),  whether  it  was  reasonable 
that  a  story  so  marvellous,  and  so  contrary  to  experi- 
ence, should  be  believed  on  any  single  testimony,  how- 
ever unexceptionable  ?  There  were  also  keen  critics 
who  said,  that,  as  there  was  proof  that  in  the  very  age  in 
which  the  miracles  were  wrought  there  were  many  who 
did  not  believe  the  message  which  they  professedly  con- 
firmed, it  was  a  strong  indication  that  the  whole  was  a 
fiction ;  while  some  others  of  still  greater  acumen  dis- 
covered that  the  very  freedom  from  all  discrepancies 
and  contradictions  in  the  account  itself  smelt  very 
strongly  of  art  and  design ;  that  this  perfection  of  con- 
sistency was  not  the  characteristic  of  any  history  ever 
written  by  an  ^honest  man,  and  that  no  doubt  it  had 
been  elabor^itely  contrived  by  a  single  highly  inventive 
mind." 

"  The  idiots  I  "  I  exclaimed.  "  Why,  this  very  cir- 
cumstance ought  surely  to  have  led  them  tc  argue  the 
other  way." 

4 


370  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  They  thought  otherwise ;  and  I  must  say  I  think 
they  argued  very  plausibly,  and  that  very  much  is  to  be 
said  for  them.  They  thought  that  perfect  self-consis- 
tency might  possibly  be  obtained  by  a  single  mind  of 
highly  inventive  power,  and  they  preferred  believing 
that,  to  receiving  such  wonderful  things  supported  by 
any  single  testimony." 

"  But  did  none  attempt  to  remedy  this  defect  of  the 
unhappy  speculator  ?  " 

"  O,  yes ;  another  attempted  to  establish  in  a  second 
community  of  our  reasonable  shadows  a  revelation  on 
the  same  basis  of  miracles ;  but  instead  of  trusting  to 
one  witness,  he  recorded  the  results  by  ten ;  and  with 
such  perfection  of  art,  that  all  the  ingenuity  of  all  the 
critics  of  succeeding  ages  could  not  detect  a  single  va- 
riation other  than  in  language ;  the  records  themselves 
and  their  contents  were  precisely  the  same. 

"  And  what  was  the  result." 

"  Much  the  same  as  before ;  for  this  identity  of  sub- 
stance and  almost  of  manner  showed  most  evidently, 
said  the  critics,  that  there  had  been  collusion  between 
the  several  parties  who  had  framed  the  revelation :  — 
and  in  the  course  of  three  or  four  generations  it  was 
universally  rejiscted,  as  totally  unworthy  of  belief." 

"  I  see  not,  then,  how  a  revelation  by  any  such  means 
could  be  authenticated  at  all  ?  " 

"  Why,  our  reasonable  creatures  require  a  great  deal 
of  management,  —  that  is  the  truth.  There  is  no  way 
in  which  you  cannot  prove  to  your  own  satisfaction, 
that  no  one  of  any  divine  communications  (given  under 
the  conditions  aforesaid)  is  to  be  believed ;  but  perhaps, 
after  all,  the  method  would  havf  been  more  sure,  had 
these  sages  confined  these  communications  to  differ- 
ent testimonies,  in  which  the  general  harmony  and  un- 
designed coincidences  should  be  manifest,  but  which 


THE  PARADISE  OF  FOOLS.  371 

should  contain  slight  discrepancies,  and  even  some  ap- 
parent contradictions,  which  the  parties,  if  there  had 
been  collusion,  would  certainly  have  obviated.  This 
would,  perhaps,  have  been  the  best  guaranty  that  there 
could  not  be  any  fraud  in  the  case." 

"  But  this,"  I  remarked,  "  was  just  the  mode  in  which 
the  Gospels  of  Christ  were  consigned  to  mankind." 

"And  you  see  with  what  mixed  result.  It  was  suf- 
ficient, indeed,  to  justify  the  method,  if  it  was  attended 
with  less  disastrous  effects  than  any  other  mode.  For 
it  is  a  problem  of  limits  even  at  the  very  best." 

Prompted,  I  suppose,  by  some  recollection  of  Wool- 
ston's  opinion,  that  the  miracles  of  Jesus  Christ  would 
have  been  better  worthy  of  attention,  and  more  likely 
to  be  credited  by  posterity,  if  they  had  been  performed 
on  royal  or  notable  public  characters,  or  in  their  pres- 
ence, I  felt  curious  to  know  if  any  one  had  been  deter- 
mined to  guard  against  a  similar  error.  I  was  told  that 
there  had  been ;  and  for  a  time  every  thing  went  on 
well.  This  sage's  doctrine  and  pretensions  were  rap- 
idly propagated  within  certain  limits  of  space  and  time. 
But  alas !  while  even  in  his  lifetime  the  zeal  of  some 
of  the  royal  or  noble  converts  caused  the  doctrine  to  be 
regarded  with  considerable  suspicion  among  the  rival 
great,  to  whom  the  fame  of  the  miracles  was  known 
only  by  hearsay,  its  early  success  proved  an  insur- 
mountable objection  in  a  few  generations  ;  for  several 
learned  infidels  showed  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  entire 
community,  that  the  pretended  revelation  could  have 
been  nothing  else  than  a  conspiracy  of  crafty  states- 
men for  political  purposes.  It  was  sagely  remarked, 
that  it  was  not  wonderful  that  a  doctrine  had  been  be- 
lieved, and  had  rapidly  diffused  itself,  which  had  all 
the  prestige  of  rank,  and  power,  and  statesmanship  in 
its  favor ;  that  if,  indeed,  it  had  appeared  amongst  the 


372  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

poor  and  ignorant  portion  of  mankind,  and  the  miracles 
had  been  witnessed  by  such  as  from  their  situation 
were  rather  likely  to  be  persecuted  by  the  great  and 
powerful  than  to  be  favored  by  them ;  and  lastly,  if  the 
pretended  revelation  had  vanquished  such  resistance 
instead  of  being  suspiciously  allied  with  it,  something 
more  might  be  said  in  its  behalf;  but  as  it  was,  the 
whole  thing  was  evidently  —  a  lie. 

"  Really,"  said  I,  "  it  seems  a  more  difficult  thing  for 
God  to  make  known  his  will  to  mankind  than  I  had 
supposed." 

"  It  is,"  said  he,  "  on  those  conditions  to  which  his 
wisdom  for  man's  own  sake  has  restricted  him,  and 
apart  from  which  condition  I  have  already  stated  that 
a  revelation  would  be  worthless.  It  is  a  far  more  diffi- 
cult matter  than  those  who  have  not  reflected  upon  the 
subject  would  suppose,  and  you  would  have  more  rea- 
son to  say  so  still,  if  you  knew,  as  I  do,  how  ludicrous- 
ly, as  well  as  how  utterly,  many  other  attempts  have 
failed." 

He  then  amused  me  with  an  account  of  a  sage,  who, 
seeing  the  ill  consequences  which  had  followed  from 
the  very  local  or  limited  character  of  miracles  (when  a 
few  generations  had  passed  by),  resolved  to  remedy 
this  by  a  series  of  wonders  so  stupendous  and  magnifi- 
cent, that  the  very  echo  of  them,  as  it  were,  should  re- 
verberate through  the  hollow  of  future  ages,  and  so 
impress  all  tradition  as  to  render  them  independent  of 
the  voice  of  individual  historians.  He  accordingly 
passed  to  the  very  extreme  limit  (if  he  did  not  go  be- 
yond it)  by  which  a  miracle  is  necessarily  restricted,  — 
that  of  not  disturbing  general  laws.  He  succeeded  per- 
fectly in  the  place  in  which  these  phenomena  were  wit- 
nessed ;  though,  as  there  were  multitudes  who  knew 
nothing  of  the  operator,  but  were  only  conscious  that 


THE  PARADISE  OF  FOOLS.  873 

nature  was  playing  some  strange  pranks,  no  connection 
was  established  in  their  minds  between  the  doctrine 
and  the  miracles.  But  the  consequences  in  the  future 
were  the  direct  contrary  of  what  the  sanguine  philoso- 
pher had  contemplated.  If  the  impression  of  those 
who  saw  these  splendid  wonders  could  have  been  pro- 
longed, all  had  been  well ;  but  so  far  from  the  report 
of  them  conciliating  the  regard  of  posterity,  their  very 
grandeur  and  vastness  were  the  principal  arguments 
against  them,  and  condemned  them  to  universal  rejec- 
tion. Who  could  believe,  men  said,  that  phenomena 
so  strange  and  so  portentous  —  not  only  so  different 
from,  and  so  contrary  to,  the  uniform  course  of  nature, 
but  so  much  beyond  the  limited  purpose  which  must 
have  been  contemplated  by  a  truly  miraculous  interpo- 
sition—  had  ever  happened?  If  they  had  been  single 
events,  very  transient  and  local  disturbances  of  the 
laws  of  nature  for  a  high  object,  the  case,  they  candidly 
avowed,  would  have  been  wholly  different;  but  such 
wholesale  infractions  of  the  fixed  laws  of  the  universe 
were  at  once  to  be  summarily  rejected.  They  were 
unquestionably  the  offspring  of  an  age  of  fable  and 
superstition. 

It  did  not  fare  much  better  with  another  miracle- 
monger  of  the  same  species.  In  one  community,  which 
he  had  engaged  to  instruct  in  the  mysteries  of  his  rev- 
elation, the  wonders  he  wrought  extended  to  such  large 
classes  of  phenomena,  and  for  a  time  were  so  constant, 
that  they  ceased  to  be  miracles  at  all.  As  he  could  not 
add  ubiquity  to  his  other  attributes,  few  attached  any 
importance  to  his  declaration  that  he  was  the  author  of 
such  vast  and  distant  operations,  and  fewer  absolutely 
believed  him.  Moreover,  men  became  accustomed  to 
phenomena  w^hich  they  daily  witnessed;  for  such,  it 
seems,  is  the   constitution  of  human   nature^  in   any 

32 


374 


THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 


world,  that  things'  cease  to  be  wonderful  when  they 
cease  to  be  novel.  Were  it  otherwise,  men  woud  be 
always  wondering;  for  no  miracles  are  more  wonderful 
than  the  phenomena  of  every  day  in  every  part  of  the 
universe.  Not  a  few  wise  men,  therefore,  in  this  com- 
munity, succeeded  in  giving  a  perfectly  plausible  ac- 
count of  these  wholesale  infractions  of  the  uniformity 
of  nature.  Nature,  it  was  said,  was  unquestionably 
uniform,  but  only  in  the  several  larger  portions  of  her 
operations ;  that  within  certain  cycles  she  varied  her 
operations,  as  was  clearly  seen  in  the  introduction  of 
new  races,  and  so  forth  ;  that  the  generation  which  had 
just  witnessed  such  departures  from  what  seemed  the 
established  order  of  things  were  doubtless  living  at  an 
epoch  in  which  the  huge  evolution  of  the  universe  was 
about  to  exhibit  one  of  these  new  phases,  and  that  the 
series  of  sequences  to  which  they  were  just  becoming 
accustomed  would  afterwards  continue  uniform  for  a 
number  of  ages  ;  that  such  things  were  no  miracles,  but 
merely  indicated  that  nature  was,  within  certain  limits, 
only  variably  uniform^  though  she  was  also,  within  cer- 
tain limits,  uniformly  invariable.  After  this  very  clear 
deliverance  of  philosophy,  few  people  troubled  them- 
selves about  the  claims  of  this  seer,  and  were  so  fast 
getting  accustomed  to  the  new  uniformity,  that  it 
seemed  highly  probable  that  the  very  next  generation, 
or  at  most  the  second,  would  begin  to  prate  in  the  old 
style  about  the  invariable  uniformity  of  nature,  and  to 
treat  all  the  ancient  order  of  things  which  their  progen- 
itors had  seen  changed  as  a  lying  fable  of  those  remote 
ages.  Enraged  at  such  an  unexpected  result  of  his 
operations,  the  projector  changed  his  plan,  and  broke 
in  upon  nature  with  such  a  startling  explosion  of  single 
miracles,  that  there  could  be  no  longer  any  doubt  that 
nature  was  neither  ^  variably  uniform  '  nor  '•  uniformly 


THE  PARADISE  OF  FOOLS.  375 

invariable ' :  the  only  question  was,  whether  nature  was 
not  <  uniformly  variable.'  He  set  the  sun  spinning 
through  the  heavens  at  such  a  rate,  or  rather  at  ^neh  a 
jaunty  pace,  that  no  one  knew  when  to  expect  either 
light  or  darkness  ;  men  now  froze  with  cold,  and  now 
melted  with  heat ;  the  seasons  seemed  playing  one 
grand  masquerade;  the  longest  day  and  the  shortest 
day,  and  no  day  at  all,  succeeded  one  another  in  rapid 
succession  ,  and  the  whole  universe  seemed  threatened 
with  ruin  and  desolation.  Now,  he  thought,  was  the 
time  to  put  an  end  to  all  this  strange  disorder,  and 
avow  himself  the  great  agent  in  all  these  marvels  !  But 
he  found,  to  his  chagrin,  that,  so  far  from  having  con- 
vinced men  of  the  being  and  attributes  of  God,  and  of 
the  truth  of  the  revelation  which  he  had  brought  them, 
they  were  never  less  disposed  to  listen  to  any  such 
story;  and,  in  fact,  that  the  very  few  whose  terror  had 
left  them  at  all  in  possession  of  their  senses,  had  be- 
come perfectly  convinced  that  the  universe  was  under 
the  dominion  of  Chance,  and  that  the  only  orthodox 
belief  in  such  a  world  was  stark  Atheism.  As  there 
will  always  be  men  who  will  speculate  upon  chance 
itself,  there  were  not  wanting  philosophers  who  con- 
cocted admirable  theories  of  all  this  disorder,  but  not 
one  of  them  dreamed  of  the  true.  They  all  agreed, 
however,  that  the  state  of  things  admitted  of  no  remedy 
from  any  gods,  celestial  or  infernal ;  for  if  a  divine  artif- 
icer had  existed,  they  said,  it  could  not  have  occurred. 
And  thus  the  miracles  which  were  designed  by  this 
great  man  to  convince  the  world  of  a  God,  served  for 
a  demonstration  that  there  was  and  could  be  none  ! 
They  equally  served  also  to  stifle  the  sage's  claims  to 
be  considered  God's  messenger,  for,  unhappily  exhort- 
ing a  large  crowd  to  believe  that  he  was  the  cause  of 
all  the  misery  and  terror  which  they  had  suffered,  they 


376  THE  ECLIPSE  OF  FAITH. 

were  so  exasperated  that  they  took  summary  vengeance 
on  him  :  upon  which  the  sun  resumed  his  wonted  quiet 
pace  again  through  the  heavens,  and  every  thing  fell 
into  the  old  harmonious  jogtrot  of  uniformity.  Philos- 
ophers who  lived  at  a  distance  from  the  scene  of  the 
prophet's  exit  quietly  adjusted  their  old  theory  to  the 
new  phenomena,  and  showed  most  conclusively  that 
the  whole  train  of  things  had  been  just  what  must 
necessarily  have  been,  and  could  not  but  have  hap- 
pened, without  the  most  serious  consequences ;  while 
those  who  lived  near  to  the  scene  aforesaid,  and  were 
privy  to  the  circumstances,  speculated  upon  the  curious 
coincidence  between  the  impostor's  death  and  the  return 
of  nature  to  her  order.  It  was  well,  they  said,  that 
such  things  did  not  happen  often,  or  they  could  not  fail 
to  give  rise  to  some  superstitious  notions  as  to  some 
law  of  causation  between  ignorant  fanaticism  and  the 
sublimest  phenomena  of  the  universe, 

I  asked  my  visitor  how  it  fared  with  the  many  who 
have  objected  to  the  clearness  and  force  of  prophecy, 
and  who  have  not  scrupled  to  assert,  that,  if  prophecies 
had  been  given,  they  would  have  been  given  in  such  a 
shape  as  would  have  made  their  claims  more  plain,  and 
their  fulfilment  more  incontrovertible.  "  Were  there 
none  who  relied  on  this  mode  of  demonstrating  the  re- 
ality of  a  divine  revelation,  and  manifesting  their  claims 
to  be  regarded  as  an  embassy  from  heaven  ?  " 

"  Many,"  he  replied,  "  so  many  that  it  were  tedious 
to  detail  them.  But  you  are  quite  mistaken  if  you  sup- 
pose it  possible  that  even  God  can  employ  any  moral 
methods  which  man  cannot  evade ;  how  much  less  the 
fools  who  think  they  can  improve  upon  his  !  The  wis- 
dom of  God,"  said  he,  with  a  melancholy  smile,  "is 
no  match  for  the  ingenuity  of  man.  As  to  your  pres- 
ent question,  you  know  there  have  been  persons  who 


THE    PARADISE    OF    FOOLS.  377 

have  continually  complained  in  your  world  that  proph- 
ecy is  so  obscure  that  the  event  cannot  be  certainly 
known  to  have  been  referred  to  by  it,  or  else  so  plain 
that,  ipso  facto,  it  proves  that  the  prediction  must  have 
been  composed  after  the  event.  Now  it  was  precisely 
in  attempting  the  juste  milieu  between  these  extremes 
that  our  prophetical  speculators  wrecked  themselves. 
Men  always  had  it  to  say  that  their  prophecies  had 
been  either  too  plain  or  too  obscure ;  or,  if  very  plain, 
and  yet  as  plainly  written  before  the  event,  that  their 
very  plainness  had  insured  their  own  accomplishment 
by  prompting  to  the  very  actions  and  conduct  they  so 
clearly  indicated  I " 

"  I  can  easily  conceive  that,"  I  answered.  "  But  now 
for  another  problem.  Not  a  few  of  our  older  infidels 
complained  of  the  revelation  in  the  Bible  on  the  score 
that  the  maxims  of  conduct  which  it  delivers  are  too 
general  to  be  of  any  use,  because  the  application  of 
them  is  still  left  to  be  adjusted  by  a  reference  to  par- 
ticular circumstances;  and  that,  if  a  revelation  were 
framed,  it  ought  to  take  in  all  the  limitations  of  action, 
and  furnish,  in  fact,  a  complete  system  of  casuistry; 
otherwise  it  would  be  of  no  avail.  Were  there  none 
who  attempted  this  task  ?  " 

"  Five-and-twenty  men,"  he  answered,  "  who  were 
destined  to  be  a  torment  to  one  another,  were  instructed 
to  compile  such  a  system  of  rules,  and  publish  them  for 
the  benefit  of  a  certain  community  as  an  infallible  rule 
of  life." 

"  And  have  they  completed  it  ?  " 

"  Completed  it!  They  have  been  sitting  now  for 
two  hundred  years,  and  have  not  yet  exhausted  the  in- 
finitude of  cases  to  be  digested  under  their  very  first 
capitulary."  He  said  that  being  all  of  them  ingenious 
men,  all  anxi^Dus  to  show  their  ingenuity,  and  knowing 

32  * 


378  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

that  their  credit  was  staked  upon  the  completeness  ol 
their  system,  it  was  incredible  what  strange  and  ridic- 
ulous contingencies  and  combinations  of  circumstance 
they  had  suggested  as  modifying  the  application  of 
their  general  rules.  The  books  of  law,  voluminous  as 
they  are  in  most  civilized  countries,  were  conciseness 
itself  compared  with  this  new  code  of  morals.  It  was 
thought  by  many,  that  the  labors  of  the  commissioners 
would  not  come  to  an  end  till  long  after  the  race  for 
whose  benefit  it  was  designed  had  ceased  to  exist. 
Afraid,  apparently,  of  such  a  direful  contingency,  they 
had  published,  about  three  years  before,  the  first  part, 
in  seventy-five  folio  volumes,  containing  limitations, 
illustrative  cases,  exceptions,  and  modifications,  in  re- 
lation to  that  very  obscure  general  maxim,  '  Do  unto 
others  as  ye  would  that  others  should  do  unto  you.' 
All  questions  appertaining  to  this  point  were  from  that 
time  to  be  decided  by  the  precise  statements  contained 
in  these  statutes  at  large.  But  their  mere  publication 
sufficed  to  make  an  incredible  number  of  infidels  in  the 
authority  of  the  commission.  Such  a  voluminous  rule, 
they  truly  said,  could  be  no  rule  at  all,  and  could  be 
fruitful  of  nothing  but  everlasting  litigation.  If  (they 
admitted)  general  maxims  had  been  as  briefly  as  possi- 
ble laid  down,  and  men's  common  sense  had  been  left 
to  interpret  and  apply  them  with  the  requisite  restric- 
tions, there  would  be  much  more  to  be  said  for  their 
divine  origin.  But  on  such  a  system,  no  man,  if  he 
lived  for  a  thousand  years,  could  tell  what  his  duty 
was.  Many  complained  that,  before  they  found  the  rule 
for  which  they  were  in  search,  the  time  for  its  applica- 
tion had  passed  away.  Many  excused  themselves  from 
complying  with  the  dictates  of  justice  and  charity,  be- 
cause they  could  not  discover  the  cases  that  related  to 
their  special  circumstances ;  some  even  denied  that  the 


A    FUTURE    LIFE.  379 

rules  could  have  been  devised  by  heavenly  wisdom,  be- 
cause, having  carefully  studied  the  whole  of  the  sev- 
enty-five volumes,  they  did  not  hesitate  to  say,  that 
there  were  many  cases  which  had  not  been  provided 
for  at  all ! 

I  was  so  amused  with  this  last  disastrous  attempt  to 
construct  a  revelation,  that  I  laughed  outright,  and  in 
so  doing  awoke.  I  found  that  my  lamp  was  fast  going 
out;  so,  dismissing  the  innocent  volume  of  Leibnitz 
which  had  suggested  all  these  incongruities,  I  went  to 
bed ;  firmly  convinced  that  the  shadows  of  men  in  the 
"  Paradise  of  Fools  "  are  about  as  wise  and  ingenious 
as  are  men  themselves. 


July  28.  I  had  this  morning  some  curious,  and,  if  it 
had  not  been  for  the  grave  importance  of  the  subject, 
amusing  conversation  with  Mr.  Fellowes  on  his  views, 
or  rather  his  no  views,  respecting  a  "  future  life."  He 
said  he  wished  he  could  make  up  his  mind  whether  the 
doctrine  was  true  ;  also  whether,  as  some  of  his  favorite 
writers  supposed,  it  was  of  no  "spiritual"  importance 
to  decide  it.  I  said  it  certainly  did  seem  of  some  im- 
portance. I  reminded  him  of  Pascal's  saying,  that  he 
could  excuse  men's  contented  ignorance  with  any  thing 
rather  than  that.  "  They  are  not  obliged,"  says  he,  "  to 
examine  the  Copernican  system  ;  but  it  is  vital  to  the 
whole  of  existence  to  ascertain  whether  the  soul  is 
mortal  or  not." 

"  Mr.  Newman,"  said  Fellowes,  "  thinks  very  differ- 
ently :  but  then  his  whole  mind  is  differently  constituted 
from  Pascal's." 

I  admitted  it,  of  course. 

"  Mr.  Newman's  views,"  he  continued,  "  on  the  sub- 
ject, certainly  do  not  quite  satisfy  me ;  and  yet  they  are 


380  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

very  sublime.  If  he  has  any  hope  in  this  matter,  (of 
which  he  appears  not  absolutely  destitute,)  it  is  from  the 
sheer  strength  of  a  ^ faith '  which  triumphs  over  all  ob- 
stacles, or  rather  hangs  upon  nothing.  He  ridicules  all 
intellectual  proofs,  and  at  the  same  time  declares  that 
his  'spiritual  insight'  deserts  him.  It  is  a  faith  pure 
from  all  reason,  and  from  all  'insight'  too.  As  to  in- 
sight in  this  matter,  I  must  agree  with  him,  that,  to 
ascertain  the  fact  of  a  future  life  by  '  direct  vision^  is  '  to 
me  hitherto  impossible.' " 

Harrington,  who  was  sitting  by,  smiled :  "  You  speak 
of  your  '  insight '  and  '  direct  vision '  much  as  a  High- 
lander might  talk  of  his  '  second  sight.'  As  to  your 
present  difficulty,  do  you  remember  the  advice  of  Ra- 
nald of  the  Mist  to  Allan  M'Aulay,  when  the  '  vision' 
obstinately  averted  its  face  from  him  ?  '  Have  you  re- 
versed your  own  plaid,'  said  Ranald,  '  according  to  the 
rule  of  the  experienced  seers  in  such  cases  ? '  You  do 
not  wear  a  plaid^  George,  but  suppose  you  try  the  ex- 
periment of  turning  your  coat  inside  out." 

"  Really,  Harrington,"  said  Fellowes,  with  becoming 
solemnity,  "  'insight '  is  far  too  serious  a  subject  to  joke 
upon." 

"  Why,  my  dear  fellow,"  said  the  other,  "  you  do  not 
think  I  am  going  to  treat  your  'insight'  with  more  re- 
spect than  we  treat  the  Bible." 

"  Odi  profanumj''  said  Fellowes,  almost  angrily. 
•  "  No  man  hateth  his   own   flesh,"  said   Harrington, 
with  provoking  quiet ;  "  and  that,  I  am  sure,  is  from  no 
profane  writer.     As  to  the  '  odi  profanum^  why,  I  shall 
simply  say,  that 

'  You  can  quote  it, 
With  as  much  truth  as  he  who  wrote  it.' "  « 

So  saying,  he  left  the  room.  I  was  not  sorry  that  he 
was  gone,  as  I  thought  perhaps  Fellowes  might  be  more 


A    FUTURE    LIFE.  381 

communicative.  I  asked  him  why  he  felt  Mr.  New- 
man's arguments  on  this  subject  unsatisfactory;  why 
he  could  not  acquiesce  in  them. 

"  In  the  first  place,  then,"  said  he,  "  I  was  struck  with 
the  fact,  that,  while  admitting  that  he  had  no  '  spiritual 
insight'  on  the  subject  of  a  future  life,  he  yet  admits 
that  others  may  have  enjoyed  what  is  impossible  to 
him ;  that  there  may  be  souls  favored  with  this  '  vision,' 
though  clouds  obscure  his  own.  It  is  true  he  has  ad- 
mitted (and  indeed  who  can  deny  it  ?)  that  the  spirit- 
ual faculty  is  not  equally  developed  in  all  men;  — 
though,  as  it  is  not,  I  feel  some  difficulty  in  rejecting 
the  arguments  hence  arising  for  the  possibility  and 
utility  of  an  external  revelation  ;  —  yet  at  the  best,  if 
the  faculty  may  be  so  uncertain  in  reference  to  so  im- 
portant a  question,  when  consulted  by  so  diligent  and 
deep  a  student  of  its  oracles  as  Mr.  Newman,  if  even 
his  soul  may  be  dubious  on  such  a  point,  —  why, 
upon  my  soul,  I  sometimes  hardly  know  what  to  think. 
Again,  Mr.  Newman  says,  that  some  may  have,  as  by 
special  privilege  from  God,  what  is  denied  to  him. 
Now  really  this  looks  a  little  too  much  like  favoring 
the  vulgar  view  of  inspiration,  nay,  a  sort  of  Calvin- 
istic  'election'  in  this  matter;  it  seems  to  me  to  cast 
doubts  both  on  the  competency  and  the  uniformity  of 
the  sublime  '■  spiritual  faculty,'  even  when  most  sedu- 
lously consulted." 

"  It  does  look  a  little  like  it,"  said  I ;  "  and  what 
next?" 

"  In  the  next  place,  I  am  free  to  confess,  that,  if  I  may 
be  allowed  to  argue  against  such  an  authority " 

"  O,  remember,  I  pray,  that  you  are  of  the  school  of 
free  thought :  do  not  Bibliolatrize.^^ 

"  To  state  my  views  freely  then :  I  must  say,  that,  if 
this  suspected  doctrine  be  not  one  of  the  unsophisticated 


382  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

utterances  of  the  spiritual  nature  of  man,  I  am  almost 
led  to  doubt  whether  the  clearness  with  which  the 
spiritualist  '  gazes '  on  the  rest  may  not  possibly  be  an 
illusion.  For  if  any  truth  would  seem  to  be  a  dictate 
of  nature,  it  is  a  sort  of  dim  conviction  or  impression 
of  a  future  state.  We  see  it,  in  some  shape  or  other, 
extensively  believed  by  all  nations,  and  forming  a  fea- 
ture of  all  systems  of  religion,  however  degraded  they 
may  be.  Mr.  W.  J.  Fox  mentions  it  as  one  of  those 
things  which  are  certainly  characteristic  of  the  absolute 
religion  ;  so  does  Mr.  Parker.  Mr.  Fox  expressly  affirms 
that  the  approximate  universality  of  the  belief  justifies 
the  application  of  his  criterion  for  detecting  the  eter- 
nally '  true '  under  the  Protean  shapes  of  the  '  false '  in 
religion  ;  it  is  one  of  the  points,  he  says,  in  which  they 
are  all  agreed^ 

"  Which,"  said  I,  "  if  true,  is  perhaps  the  only  point 
in  which  all  religions  are  agreed,  unless  we  affirm  that 
they  have  all  recognized  a  Deity,  because  most  of  them 
have  recognized  thousands.  Yet  as  men's  Gods  have 
varied  between  the  Infinite  Creator  and  a  monkey,  so 
in  relation  to  this  article  of  a  '  future  life,'  it  must  be 
confessed  that  there  is  a  little  difference  between  the 
Heaven  of  a  Christian,  the  Paradise  of  a  Mahometan, 
and  the  Valhalla  of  an  ancient  Goth.  Still,  as  you 
say,  it  is  true  that,  in  so?ne  shape  or  other^  nations  have 
more  distinctly  recognized  the  idea  of  an  after  exist- 
ence, than  any  other  assignable  religious  tenet." 
""  "  You  know,"  resumed  Fellowes,  "  that  in  the  draught 
of '  natural  religion '  given  us  by  Lord  Herbert,  that 
writer  particularly  insists  on  this  as  one  of  the  articles 
which  nature  itself  teaches  us,  as  amongst  the  '  com- 
mon notions,'  a  sentiment  innate  to  the  human  mind. 
Now  if  such  masters  as  Mr.  Newman  may  be  in  doubt 
about  our  innate  sentiments,  truly  I  scarcely  know  what 
to  think." 


A    FUTURE    LIFE.  383 

"  You  can  easily  decide,"  said  I,  gravely,  "  and  decide 
infallibly." 

«  How  so  ?  " 

"  Consult  that  spiritual  faculty  which  Mr.  Newman 
says  you  have  as  well  as  he  or  Lord  Herbert.  If  your 
theory  be  true,  how  can  there  be  any  doubt  as  to  your 

*  innate  '  sentiments  ?  If  you  say  they  are  written  in 
very  small  characters,  and  require  to  be  magnified  by 
somebody's  microscope,  that,  recollect,  is  tantamount  to 
acknowledging  the  possible  utility  of  an  external  reve- 
lation.    But  what  next  ?  " 

"  Well,  then,  if  I  must  confess  all  the  truth,  I  thought 
Mr.  Newman  hardly  fair  in  his  exhibition  of  PauPs  rea- 
soning on  this  matter.  He,  if  you  recollect,  says  that 
Paul  seems  to  have  rested  the  belief  of  Christ's  resur- 
rection very  little  upon  evidence^  which  he  received  very 
credulously,  upon  very  insufficient  proof,  and  in  a  man- 
ner which  w^ould  have  moved  the  laughter  of  Paley ; 
that,  in  short,  he  cared  very  little  about  the  evidence, 
and  arrived  mainly  at  his  convictions  in  virtue  of  his 

*  spiritual  aspirations ' ;  that  it  was  rather  his  strong 
aspirations  after  immortality  which  made  Paul  believe 
the  supposed  fact,  than  the  supposed  fact  which  gave 
strength  to  his  aspirations  after  immortality.  Now  it 
is  very  clear  (from  texts  which,  for  whatsoever  reasons, 
are  not  quoted  by  Mr.  Newman),  that  the  Apostle  Paul 
made  his  whole  argument  depend  on  the  alleged  fact  of 
Christ's  resurrection,  whether  carelessly  received  or  not : 
'  If  Christ  be  not  risen,  then  is  your  faith  vain,  and  our 

preaching  is  also  vain Then  are  we  of  all  men 

most  miserable.' " 

"  But  you  recollect  that  Mr.  Newman  alleges  that 
Paul  deals  very  superficially  with  the  evidence,  —  with 
that  of  the  <  five  hundred,'  for  example.  He  observes 
that  Paley  would  have  made  a  widely  different  matter 
of  it" 


884 


THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 


"  See  how  variously  men  may  argue,"  replied  Fel- 
lowes,  candidly.  "  I  was  talking  on  that  very  point 
with  one  of  the  orthodox  the  other  day,  and  he  reasoned 
in  some  such  way  as  this:  — 

"  On  the  supposition,  he  said,  that  the  possession  of 
miraculous  powers  was  notorious  in  the  Church,  —  that 
many  of  those  whom  Paul  addressed  had  actually  wit- 
nessed them,  —  that  the  Gospel,  when  preached  by  him 
and  by  the  other  Apostles,  was  confirmed  by  '  signs  and 
wonders,'  —  nothing  could  be  more  natural  than  the 
very  tone  which  the  Apostles  employed :  that,  so  far 
from  its  being  suspicious,  it  was  one  of  the  truest 
touches  of  nature  and  verisimilitude  in  their  composi- 
tions ;  so  much  so,  that,  supposing  there  were  no  mira- 
cles, that  very  tone  required  itself  to  be  accounted  for 
as  unnatural;  he  said  that  it  is,  in  fact,  just  the  way  in 
which  men  talk  and  write  of  any  other  extraordinary 
events  which  notoriously  happened  in  their  time.  They 
never  think  of  posterity,  and  what  it  may  think  ;  of  an- 
ticipating either  future  doubts  or  charges  of  fraud.  It 
is  natural  that  men  should  speak  in  this,  as  we  should 
call  it,  loose  way,  of  what  is  transpiring  under  their  very 
noses.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  there  had  been  no  mira- 
cles to  appeal  to,  so  as  to  render  this  style  as  natural 
as,  on  the  contrary  supposition,  it  was  the  reverse,  he 
could  not,  he  said,  imagine,  that,  in  that  or  any  other 
age,  any  men,  especially  men  opposed  to  such  preten- 
sions, would  so  easily  have  been  satisfied,  even  had  the 
Apostles  confined  themselves  to  rumors  of  alleged  dis- 
tant miracles;  but  much  less  where  similar  wonders 
were  said  to  have  been  brought  under  the  eyes  of  the 
very  parties  to  whom  the  appeal  was  made !  He  said 
he  would  even  go  a  step  further,  and  affirm  that,  under 
the  circumstances  of  the  professed  notoriety  of  the  mi- 
raculous occurrences  to  which  Paul  and  the  other  Apos- 


A    FUTURE    LIFE.  885 

ties  appealed,  any  declaration  that  they  had  instituted 
that  careful  scrutiny  of  evidence,  that  minute  circum- 
stantial cross-examination  of  the  witnesses,  —  which 
would  be  a  course  all  very  well  in  the  days  of  Paley, 
eighteen  hundred  years  after,  but  absolutely  preposter- 
ous then,  —  would  have  appeared  to  our  age  a  much 
more  suspicious  thing  than  the  tone  actually  adopted  ; 
that  the  scrupulous  deposition  of  technical  proof  would 
have  been  finessing  too  much,  and  would  have  been  the 
strongest  proof  of  collusion.  The  very  tone  objected 
to,  he  said,  supposing  there  were  no  miracles,  is  one  of 
the  most  striking  proofs  of  the  astonishing  sagacity  of 
these  men  ;  for  it  is  just  the  tone  they  would  have  used 
if  there  had  been.  So  differently  may  men  reason  from 
the  same  data!  Whether  (he  concluded)  Mr.  New- 
man's view  of  the  facts,  or  his,  was  founded  on  a  deeper 
and  more  comprehensive  knowledge  of  human  nature, 
he  must  leave  to  my  judgment." 

"  I  protest,"  said  I,  "  I  think  the  orthodox  had  the 
best  of  it.  But  what  struck  you  next  as  unaccount- 
able in  Mr.  Newman's  view  of  this  subject  of  a  future 
life?" 

"  I  confess,  then,  that  the  reasoning  by  which  he 
endeavors  to  show  that,  even  admitting  the  fact  of 
Christ's  resurrection,  there  could  be  nothing  in  it  to 
warrant  the  expectation  of  the  resurrection  of  any  other 
human  beings,  simply  because  he  must  have  differed  so 
stupendously  from  all  the  rest  of  mankind,  appears  to 
me  very  damaging  to  us.  Of  what  use  is  it,  to  argue 
upon  such  an  hypothesis  ?  " 

"  Of  none  in  the  world,  certainly,"  said  I,  laughing. 

"  Surely  not,"  he  replied ;  "  for  if  Christ's  resurrec- 
tion be  admitted,  we  know  very  well  it  will  carry  with 
it,  in  the  estimation  of  the  bulk  of  mankind,  all  the  other 
great  facts  implicated  with  the  Christian  system.    They 


386  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

will  concede,  at  once,  the  supernatural  character,  the 
divine  origin,  of  the  New  Testament.  I  suppose  there 
scarcely  ever  was  a  man  who  admitted  these  premises 
who  would  trouble  himself  to  contest  the  conclusion." 

"  But  seriously,"  continued  this  half-repentant  ad- 
mirer, almost  frightened  at  the  extent  of  his  own  free- 
dom of  thought,  "  though  I  cannot  say  I  am  satisfied 
with  Mr.  Newman's  notions  on  this  subject, —  and,  in 
fact,  cannot  make  up  my  mind  upon  it,  — can  there  be 
anything  morally  more  sublime  than  the  view,  that 
the  doctrine  of  immortality,  which  has  been  superficially 
supposed,  if  not  necessary,  yet  so  conducive  to  sincere 
and  elevated  piety,  may  be  readily  dispensed  with,  as 
no  way  necessary  (as  Mr.  Newman  feels)  for  the  spir- 
itual nourishment  of  the  soul  ?  *  Confidence^  he  says, 
« there  is  none ;  and  hopeful  aspiration  is  the  soul's 
highest  state.  But,  then,  there  is  herein  nothing  what- 
ever to  distress  her ;  no  cloud  of  grief  crosses  the  area 
of  her  vision,  as  she  gazes  upwards.'  He  even  intimates 
that,  from  the  stress  laid  upon  immortality  by  '  modern 
divines,'  they  might  seem  to  be  ^  incarnations  of  selfish- 
ness.' He  says  it  tends  to  '  degrade  religion  into  a 
prudential  regard  for  our  interests  after  death';  that 
I*  conscience,  the  love  of  virtue,  for  its  own  sake,  and 
much  more  the  love  of  God,  are  ignored.'  Many  of 
the  '  spiritual '  school  agree  with  him  in  this ;  and  some 
even  affirm  that  the  hope  of  immortal  felicity  is  but  a 
bribe  to  selfishness.  Can  any  thing  be  more  elevated 
or  original  than  this  view  ?  " 

"  As  to  the  elevation,"  said  I,  "  I  confess  I  prefer 
the  spectacle  of  Socrates,  relying  even  on  feeble  argu- 
ments rather  than  sink  to  this  tame  acquiescence  in  a 
notion  so  degrading  to  the  Deity,  as  that  man  was 
created  for  a  dog's  life  with  the  tormenting  aspiration 
for  something  better.      The  spectacle  of  the  heathen 


A    FUTURE    LIFE. 


^ 


sage,  v/ho,  amidst  the  thick  gloom,  the  *  palpable  ob- 
scure,' which  involved  this  subject,  gazed  intently  into 
the  darkness,  and  '  longed  for  the  day,'  —  who  strained 
every  nerve  of  an  insufficient  logic,  and  was  willing  to  A 
take  even  the  whispers  of  hope  for  the  oracles  of  truth, 
rather  than  part  with  the  prospect  of  immortality,  —  is, 
to  my  mind,  much  more  attractive.  As  to  the  originaU 
ity  of  the  view  you  just  expressed,  why,  it  is  merely  a 
resurrection  of  one  of  the  theories  of  some  of  our  very 

*  spiritual  deists  '  a  century  ago.  Collins  and  Shaftes- 
bury were,  in  like  manner,  apprehensive  lest  an  elevated 

*  virtue '  should  suffer  at  all  from  this  bribery  of  a  hope 
of  a  *  blessed  immortality ' ;  as  you  may  see  in  the 
Characteristics.  For  my  own  part,  I  certainly  have  my 
doubts  whether  virtue  will  be  the  less  virtuous,  or 
spirituality  the  less  spiritual,  for  such  a  doctrine ;  and  I 
must  believe  it  even  on  the  hypothesis  of  you  spiritual 
folks ;  for  you  generally  affirm  that  the  Belief  of  a  Fu- 
ture Life  does  not  really  exercise  any  thing  more  than 
an  insignificant  influence  on  human  nature  ;  the  hopes 
and  the  fears  of  that  so  distant  a  morrow  are  too  vague 
to  be  operative.  *  Now,  if  it  be  so,  immortality  can  be 
no  more  a  bribe  than  a  menace." 

"  Yet,"  said  Fellowes,  "  in  justice  to  Mr.  Newman,  it 
must  not  be  forgotten,  that  he  thinks  that  '  a  firm  belief 
of  immortality  must  have  very  energetic  force,'  provid- 
ed it  *  rises  out  of  insight ' ;  it  is  as  '  an  external  dogma ' 
'that  he  thinks  it  of  little  efficacy.  He  says,  you  know, 
that,  supposing  Paul  to  have  had  this  insight,  '  his  light 
can  do  us  no  good,  while  it  is  a  light  outside  of  us  If 
he  in  any  way  confused  the  conclusions  of  his  logic 
{which  is  often  extremely  inconsequent  and  mistaken) 
with  the  perceptions  of  his  divinely  illuminated  soul,  our 
belief  might  prove  baseless.'  *   These  are  his  very  words." 

*  Soul,  pp.  226,  227. 


388  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

-      "  Very  well,  then  ;  say  that  Mr.  Newman  thinks  the 

notions  of  a  future  hell  of  little  efficacy  ;  and  of  a  future 

!       heaven  of  as  little,  except  when  it  rises  from  ^  insight ' ; 

1       —  he  confessing  that  he   has  not  that  '  insight,'  and, 

\  from  the  necessity  of  the  case,  not  knowing  whether 
any  body  else  has,  it  being  a  '  light  outside  him.'  If  so, 
I  think  he  is  much  like  the  rest  of  you,  and  cannot  in 
fact  suppose  the  thought  of  a  future  life  to  operate 
strongly  either  as  a  bribe  or  a  menace." 

r"**But  surely,  whatever  his  views,  or  those  of  any 
ir.dividual,  you  must  admit  that  a  piety  which  is  sus- 
tained without  any  hopes  of  immortality  is  less  selfish 
than  that  which  is." 

"  Why,"  replied  I,  laughing ;  "  J  cannot  conceive  how 
the  hope  of  a  virtuous  immortality  can  produce  a  vi- 
cious self-love.  But  if  the  hope  and  the  consciousness 
of  happiness  now  exercise  any  influence  at  all,  your  ar- 
gument proves  too  much ;  and  there  is  a  simple  impos- 
sibility of  being  unselfishly  religious  at  all." 

"  How  so  ?  " 

"  Do  you  think  that,  admitting  not  only  the  uncer- 
tainty of  any  future  life,  but  the  certainty  that  there 
is  none,  and  that  nevertheless  (as  you  affirm)  man, 
under  that  conviction,  is  just  as  capable  of  manifesting 
a  true  devotion  and  piety  towards  God,  any  felicity 
flows  from  his  so  doing  ?  " 

"  The  highest,  of  course,"  said  he. 

"  Do  you  think  that  the  happiness  so  derived  and 
expected  from  day  to  day  has  any  sinister  influence  on 
the  spiritual  life  of  him  who  feels  it  ?  " 

"  Of  course,  none." 

"  The  contrary,  perhaps  ?  " 

"  I  think  so." 
t.  ]  "  Then  neither  need  tl  e  expectation  of  an  eternity  of 
Buch  blessedness  be  any  impediment     Again ;  let  us 


A    FUTURE    LIFE.  389 

come  to  facts ;  are  not  the  declarations  of  those  whom 
Mr.  Newman,  however  oddly,  is  willing  to  admit  have 
been  the  best  specimens  yet  afforded  of  his  true  '  spir- 
itual '  man,  —  the  Doddridges,  the  Fletchers,  the  Bax- 
ters, and  Paul  especially,  —  full  of  this  sentiment?  *I 
desire  to  depart^  says  Paul,  '  and  to  be  with  Christ, 
which  is  far  better' ;  and  similar  selfish  hopes  inspired 
those  excellent  men  whose  names  still  rise  spontane- 
ously to  Mr.  Newman's  memory  when  he  would  re- 
mind us  of  examples  of  his  '  spiritual  religion  !  Tell 
me,  do  you  not  think  Paul  a  '  spiritual'  man?  " 

"  Yes  ;  with  all  his  hlunders^^  said  Fellowes,  "  I  do  ; 
and  Mr.  Newman's  writings  are  full  of  that  admission." 

"  Very  true.  But  then  Paul  is  so  selfish,  you  know, 
as  to  say,  not  merely  that  the  immortality  of  man  is 
true,  and  that  the  *  light  afflictions  which  are  but  for  a 
moment'  are  to  be  despised,  6eca7i5e  unworthy  Ho  be 
compared  with  the  glory  to  be  revealed  ' ;  but  that,  if 
immortality  be  not  true,  Christians,  as  deluded  in  such 
hopes,  are  of  all  men  most  miserable.  All  this  shows 
how  powerfully  the  '  spiritual '  Paul  thought  that  the 
doctrine  of  a  future  state  operated  and  ought  to  operate 
on  the  mind  of  a  Christian  ;  he  never  supposed  that  it 
could  possibly  have  a  negative,  still  less  a  sinister  influ- 
ence." 

"  But  then,  surely,  what  Mr.  Newsman  says  is  true,        ) 
that  many  of  the  saints  of  the  Old  Testament  exempli-       / 
fied  all  the  heroism  of  a  true  faith,  and  kindled  with  the 
ardors  of  a  true  devotion,  in  an  ignorance  of  any  such 
state,  and  the  absence  of  all  such  expectations." 

"  I  answer,  that  Mr.  Newman  too  often  speaks  as  if 
his  individual  impressions  were  to  be  taken  for  demon- 
stration. That  the  Old  Testament  is  unpervaded  by 
any  distinct  traces  of  expectations  of  a  future  life  is,  at 
all  events,  wo/  the  opinion  of  the  majority  of  men,  many 

33* 


390 


THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 


of  them  at  least  as  capable  of  judging  as  Mr.  Newman. 
It  is  not  the  opinion  of  the  writers  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, that  the  Old  Testament  worthies  were  in  this 
deplorable  darkness  ;  nor  of  the  majority  of  the  Jewish 
interpreters  of  their  ancestors'  writings ;  nor  is  it  the 
impression  of  the  great  majority  of  those  who  now  read 
them.  How  it  can  be  the  opinion  of  any  one  who 
has  not  some  hypothesis  to  serve,  is  to  me  a  mystery. 
Meanwhile  Mr.  Newman  himself  at  least  gives  some 
notable  passages  to  the  contrary^  though  he  chooses  to 
call  them  only  personal  aspirations.  Think  of  the  ab- 
surdity, my  good  friend,  of  supposing  that  Job,  David, 
Isaiah,  failed  to  realize  a  doctrine  (imperfectly  it  may 
be)  which,  as  you  truly  affirm,  has,  in  some  shape  or 
other,  animated  all  forms  of  religion  I  that  these  bright- 
est specimens  of  '  spiritual  religion '  in  the  ancient  world 
somehow  missed  what  many  of  the  lowest  savages  have 
managed  to  stumble  upon  ! " 
/  "  Well,"  he  replied,  "  but,  after  all,  he  who  loves  God 
/  without  any  thought  of  heaven  must  surely  be  more 
unselfish  than  he  who  hopes  for  it." 

I  laughed,  —  for  I  could  not  help  it. 

"  Unhappy  Paul!"  interjected  Harrington,  who  had 
again  entered  the  library  ;  "  unhappy  Paul !  burdened 
with  the  hopes  of  immortality  ;  what  an  impediment 
he  must  have  found  it  in  his  Christian  course!  I  won- 
der he  did  not  throw  aside  *  this  weight,  which  so  easily 
beset  him.'  Pity  that  when  he  became  a  Christian, 
and  ceased  to  be  a  Pharisee,  he  did  not,  like  so  many 
*  spiritual '  Christians  of  our  day,  know  that,  when  he 
became  a  Christian,  he  might  still  remain  in  one  of  the 
Jewish  sects,  and  turn  Sadducee." 

"  Be  it  so,"  said  Fellowes,  "  a  Christian  Sadducee, 
cceteris  paribus^  might  perhaps  be  a  more  virtuous  man 
having  no  hopes  of  heaven  by  which  he  can  possibly  be 
bribed." 


A    FUTURE    LIFE.  Mft 

"  Religious  lo^e  and  hope,"  said  I,  "  will  with  diffi- 
culty exist  in  such  an  atmosphere  as  you  create.  It  is 
a  sublime  altitude,  doubtless,  but  no  ordinary  '  spiritual' 
beings  can  breathe  that  rarefied  air.  It  is  for  the  honor 
of  Shaftesbury  and  some  few  other  Deists,  that  they  as- 
pired to  this  transcendental  virtue !  You  are  imitating 
them.  I  fear  you  will  not  be  more  successful.  Once 
leave  a  man  to  conclude,  or  even  to  suspect,  that  he 
and  his  cat  end  together,  and,  if  a  bad  man,  he  will 
gladly  accept  a  release  from  every  claim  but  that  of  his 
passions  and  appetites  (the  effects  being  more  or  less 
philosophically  calculated  according  to  his  intellectual 
power) ;  while  the  best  man  would  be  liable  to  contem- 
plate God  and  religion  with  a  depressed  and  faltering 
heart.  He  would  be  apt  to  lose  all  energy ;  he  would 
feel  it  impossible  to  repress  doubts  of  the  infinite  wis- 
dom and  benignity  of  Him  (whatever  he  might  think 
of  His  power)  who  had  given  him  the  soul  of  a  man 
and  the  life  of  a  butterfly ;  conceptions  and  aspirationr 
so  totally  disproportioned  to  the  evanescence  of  his 
being!  If,  however,  you  really  think  that  the  hopes 
of  an  immortality  of  virtuous  happiness  will  stand  in 
the  way  of  a  sublime  disinterestedness  of  spirituality, 
you  ought  to  recollect  that  any  expectation  of  happi- 
ness, even  for  a  day,  will,  in  its  measure,  have  the  same 
effect.  So  that  the  only  way  in  which  you  can  accom- 
modate so  '  spiritual  a  piety,'  and  absolutely  insure  your- 
self against  '  spiritual  bribery,'  is  to  deprive  yourself  of 
all  possibility  of  being  so  misled.  If  your  piety  would 
be  absolutely  sure  that  it  loves  God  on  these  sublime 
terms,  it  should  take  care  to  neutralize  the  happiness 
which  that  love  brings  with  it;  so  that,  if  God  has  not 
made  you  miserable,  you  should  never  fail,  like  the  as- 
cetics, to  make  yourself  so.  I  fear  you  never  can  be 
perfectly   'spiritual'  till  you   have  made  yourself  su- 


392  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

premely  wretched.  But  to  quit  this  point,"  I  contin- 
ued; "if  immortality  be  a  delusion,  I  fear  we  must 
say  that  it  covers  the  divine  administration  with  an  im- 
penetrable cloud,  —  one  which  we  cannot  hope  will  be 
removed.  The  inequalities  of  that  administration  can- 
not be  redressed." 

"  But  do  you  not  recollect,"  replied  Fellowes,  "  the 
reason  Mr.  Newman  gives  for  despising  any  such  miti 
gation  ?  Does  he  not  say,  that  it  is  a  strange  argument 
for  a  day  of  recompense,  that  man  has  unsatisfied  claims 
upon  God  ?  He  says,  *  Christians  have  added  an  argu- 
ment of  their  own  for  a  future  state,  but,  unfortunately? 
one  that  cannot  bring  personal  comfort  or  assurance. 
A  future  state  (it  seems)  is  requisite  to  redress  the  in- 
equalities of  this  life.  And  can  I  go  to  the  Supreme 
Judge,  and  tell  Him  that  I  deserve  more  happiness  than 
He  has  granted  me  in  this  life  ? '  Do  you  not  recollect 
this  ?  —  or  has  this  sarcasm  escaped  you  ?  " 

"  It  has  not  escaped  me,  —  I  remember  it  well ;  but 
it  seems  to  have  escaped  you^  that  it  is  a  very  transpar- 
ent sophism.  For  what  is  it  but  a  pretence  that  the 
Christian  in  general  is  confident  enough  of  his  virtue 
to  think  that  he  has  not  been  sufficiently  well  treated, 
and  that  his  Creator  and  Judge  cannot  do  less  than 
make  amends  for  his  injustice,  by  giving  him  compen- 
sation in  another  world  ?  " 

"  And  is  not  that  the  true  statement  of  the  case  ?  " 

"  I  imagine  not;  whether  men  be  Christians  or  other- 
wise. The  generality,  when  they  reason  upon  this  sub- 
ject, (you  and  I,  for  example,  at  this  very  moment,)  are 
not  at  all  considering  the  aspect  of  such  a  day  upon 
themselves ;  how  much  they  will  lose  if  there  be  none ; 
perhaps  the  bulk  would  wish  that  it  could  be  proved 
that  it  would  never  come !  It  has  been  from  a  wish  to 
escape  great  speculative  perplexities,  connected  with 


^     A    FUTURE    LIFE.  393 

the  divine  administration,  and  not  in  relation  to  man's 
deserts,  that  the  question  has  been  argued.  When  dic- 
tated by  other  feelings,  the  conviction  of  a  future  state 
has  been  quite  as  generally  the  utterance  of  remorse 
and  fear,  the  response  of  an  accusing  conscience,  as  of 
hope  and  aspiration ;  and  derives,  perhaps,  a  terrible 
significance  from  that  circumstance.  But  it  has  cer- 
tainly not  been,  in  the  Christian,  the  result  of  any  ab- 
surd expectation  of  virtues  to  be  rewarded,  or  rights  to 
be  redressed.  As  to  the  Christian,  though  he  feels  that 
he  would  not,  and  dare  not,  go  to  the  divine  tribunal 
with  any  such  absurd  plea  as  Mr.  Newman  is  pleased 
to  put  into  his  mouth, — though  he  cannot  impeach 
the  divine  goodness,  —  he  none  the  less  feels  that  that 
goodness,  if  this  scene  be  all,  is  open  to  very  grievous 
impeachment  in  relation  to  millions  who  have  suffered 
much,  and  done  no  wrong,  and  to  multitudes  more  who 
have  inflicted  infinite  wrong,  and  suffered  next  to  noth- 
ing ;  and  they  would  fain,  if  they  could,  get  over  diffi- 
culties which  Mr.  Newman  chooses,  from  the  mere  exi- 
gencies of  his  theology,  to  represent  as  no  difficulties 
at  all.  To  escape  them  or  to  solve  them  is  the  thing 
principally  in  the  minds  of  those  who  contend  for  a  day 
of  recompense ;  not  the  imaginary  compensation  of  in- 
dividual wrongs.  I  do  contend  that,  if  this  world  be 
all,  the  divine  administration  in  many  points  is  more 
hopelessly  opposed  to  our  moral  instincts,  and  to  all  our 
notions  of  equity  and  benevolence,  than  any  thing  on 
which  you  spiritualists  are  accustomed  to  justify  your 
censure  of  Scripture.  You  ought,  as  Harrington  says, 
to  go  further." 


^ 


July  80.     I  was  much  interested  yesterday  morning 
by  a  conversation  between  Harrington  and  two  pleasant 


394  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITk. 

youths,  acquaintances  of  Mr.  Fellowes,  both  younger  by 
three  or  four  years  than  either  he  or  Harrington.  They 
are  now  at  college,  and  have  imbibed  in  different  de- 
grees that  curious  theory  which,  professedly  recognizing 
Christianity  (as  consigned  to  the  New  Testament)  as  a 
truly  divine  revelation,  yet  asserts  that  it  is  intermingled 
with  a  large  amount  of  error  and  absurdity,  and  tells 
each  man  to  eliminate  the  divine  <  element'  for  himself. 
According  to  this  theory,  the  problem  of  eliciting  re- 
vealed truth  may  be  said  to  be  indeterminate ;  the  value 
of  the  unknown  x  varies  through  all  degrees  of  magni- 
tude ;  it  is  equal  to  any  thing,  equal  to  every  thing, 
equal  to  nothing,  equal  to  infinity. 

The  whole  party  thought,  with  the  exception  of  Har- 
rington, who  knew  not  what  to  think,  that  the  "  relig- 
ious faculty  or  faculties  "  (one  or  many,  —  no  man  seems 
to  know  exactly)  are  quite  sufficient  to  decide  all  doubts 
and  difficulties  in  refigious  matters. 
',      Harrington  knew  not  whether  to  say  there  was  any 
I  truth  in  Christianity  or  not;  Fellowes  knew  that  there 
'  was  none,  except  in  that  "  religious  element,"  which  is 
found  alike  essentially  in  all  religions ;  that  its  miracles, 
its  inspiration,  its  peculiar  doctrines,  are  totally  false. 
The  young  gentlemen  just  referred  to  believed  "that 
I  it  might  be  admitted  that  an  external  revelation  was 
j  possible,''^  and  "that  the  condition  of  man,  considering 
'  the  aspects  of  his  history,  has  not  been  altogether  so 
felicitous  as  to  show  that  he  never  needed,  and  might 
•  not  be  benefited,  by  such  light."     I  could  cordially  agree 
with  them  so  far;  superabundance  of  religious  illumi- 
nation not  being  amongst  the  things  of  which  human- 
ity can  legitimately  complain. 

But  then,  as  they  both  believed  that  each  man  was 
\o  distil  the  "  elixir  vitse  "  for  himself  from  the  crude 
iaass  of  truth  and  falsehood  which  the  New  Testament 


A    VARIABLE    QUANTITY.  395 

presents,  Harrington,  with  his  interrogations,  soon  com- 
pelled them  to  see  how  inconsistent  they  were  both  with 
themselves  and  with  one  another.  One  of  them  be- 
lieved, he  said,  that  the  Apostles  might  have  been 
favored  by  a  true  revelation ;  but  not  in  such  a  sense 
"  as  to  prevent  their  often  falling  into  serious -errors," 
wherever  the  distinctly  "  religious  element "  was  not  con- 
cerned ;  this  was  the  only  truly  "  divine  "  thing  about 
it ;  but  he  saw  no  particular  objection  to  receiving  the 
miracles ;  at  least  some  of  them,  —  the  best  authenti- 
cated and  most  reasonable  ;  perhaps  they  were  of  value 
as  part  of  the  complex  evidence  needful  to  establish 
doctrines  which,  if  not  absolutely  transcendental  to  the 
human  faculties,  —  as  the  doctrine  of  a  future  life,  for 
example,  —  yet,  apart  from  revelation,  are  but  matter  of 
conjecture." 

The  other  was  also  not  unwilling  to  admit  the  mi- 
raculous and  inspired  character  of  the  revelation,  but 
contended,  further,  that  the  "religious  element"  was  to 
be  submitted  to  human  judgment  as  well  as  the  rest ; 
and  that,  if  apparently  absurd,  contradictory,  or  perni- 
cious, as  judged  by  that  infallible  and  ultimate  standard, 
it  was  to  be  rejected. 

It  was  amusing  to  think  that,  in  this  little  compai^^ 
of  three  devout  believers  in  the  "  internal  oracle,"  no  / 
two  thought  alike !  After  the  two  youths  had  frankly 
stated  their  opinions,  Harrington  quietly  said,  "  I  should 
much  like  to  ask  each  of  you  a  few  questions.  There 
are  certain  difficulties  connected  with  each  hypothesis 
just  stated,  on  which  I  should  be  glad  to  receive  some 
light.  I  frankly  confess  beforehand,  however,  that  I  fear 
that  that  curiously  constructed  book,  which  gives  us  all 
so  much  trouble,  —  which  will  not  allow  me  to  ^d^y  pos- 
itively either  that  it  is  true  or  false,  —  will  still  less  per- 
mit you  to  reject  a  part  or  parts  at  your  pleasure.    It  is, 


396  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

I  must  admit,  a  most  independent  book  in  that  respect, 
and  treats  your  spiritual  illumination  most  cavalierly. 
^  It  says  to  youj  "  Receive  me  altogether,  or  reject  me  al- 
yf^^  together,  just  as  you  please  "  ;  and  when  men  have  re- 
jected it  altogether,  it  leaves  them  certain  literary  and 
historical,  and  moral  problems,  in  all  fairness  demand- 
ing solution,  which  I  doubt  whether  it  is  in  our  power 
to  solve,  or  to  give  any  decent  account  of." 

"  What  do  you  mean,"  said  the  younger  of  the  two 
youths,  "  by  affirming  that  we  are  compelled  to  receive 
the  whole  book,  or  to  reject  it  all  ?  " 
\  .  "  Let  us  see,"  said  Harrington,  "  whether  there  is 
I  any  consistent  stopping-place  between.  It  appears  to 
I  me,  that,  whether  by  the  most  singular  series  of  '  coin- 
cidences,' or  by  immense  subtlety  of  design,  this  book, 
evidently  composed  by  different  hands,  has  yet  its  ma- 
terials so  interwoven,  and  its  parts  so  reciprocally  de- 
pendent, that  it  is  impossible  to  separate  them,  —  to  set 
some  aside,  and  say, '  We  will  accept  these,  and  reject 
those ' :  just  as,  in  certain  textures,  no  sooner  do  we 
Y  begin  to  take  out  a  particular  thread,  than  we  find  it  is 
inextricably  entangled  with  others,  and  those  again  with 
others ;  so  that  there  immediately  takes  place  a  prodi- 
gious *  gathering '  at  that  point,  and  if  we  persevere,  a 
rent ;  but  the  obstinate  part  at  which  we  tug  will  not 
come  away  alone.  Whether  it  is  so  or  not,  we  shall 
soon  see,  by  examining  the  results  of  the  application  of 
your  theories.  I  will  begin  with  you,"  (addressing  the 
younger,)  "  because  you  believe  least ;  you  say,  I  think, 
that  you  admit  the  records  of  the  New  Testajpient  con- 
tain a  real  revelation,  —  a  religious  element,  —  and  that 
it  has  been  authenticated  to  you  by  miracles  and  other 
evidence ;  but  that  the  human  mind  is  still  the  judge  of 
how  much  of  that  revelation  is  to  be  received,  <  and  sits 
in  judgment '  on  the  *  religious  element  as  well  as  the 
rest'  " 


A   VARIABLE    QUANTITY.  397 

The  other  assented. 

"  You  admit,  probably,  the  doctrine  of  the  soul's  im- 
mortality as  a  part  of  that  revelation,  —  perhaps  even 
the  doctrine  of  a  resurrection  ?  " 

"  I  do,  —  both  these  doctrines." 

"  But  perhaps  you  reject  the  idea  of  an  *  atonement,' 
though  you  admit  it  to  be  in  the  Book?  " 

"  Yes.  At  the  same  time  it  is  contended  by  many 
(as  you  are  aware)  that  such  a  doctrine  is  not  there." 

"  I  am  aware  of  it,  of  course  ;  but  with  them  we  have 
no  controversy  here.  They  are  consistent,  so  far  as  the 
present  argument  goes ;  as  consistent  as  the  orthodox 
themselves.  They  do  not  allege  a  liberty  of  rejecting 
what  they  admit  the  book  does  contain,  but  only  deny 
that  it  does  contain  some  things  which  they  reject. 
They  would  admit  that,  if  those  doctrines  be  there,  then 
either  they  must  concede  them  because  authenticated 
by  the  miracles  and  other  evidence,  which  proves  what 
else  they  concede,  or  they  must  reject  the  said  evidence 
altogether,  because  it  authenticated  what  they  found  it 
impossible  to  concede.  The  controversy  between  them 
and  the  orthodox  is  one  of  interpretation^  and  is  quite 
different  from  that  in  which  we  are  now  engaged." 

"  I  must  admit  it." 

"  They  may  go,  then  ?  "  said  Harrington. 

•«  They  may." 

"  You  admit,  then,  the  miraculous  authentication  of 
such  an  event  as  the  resurrection  of  man,  but  deny  the 
doctrine  of  the  atonement,  though  equally  found  in  the 
said  records  ?  " 

"  I  do." 

«  May  I  ask  why?"  j 

"  Because  the  one  doctrine  does  not  seem  to  me  tdy/ 
contradict  my  *  spiritual  consciousness,*  and  the  other^  / 
does." 


398  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  You  receive  the  one,  I  suppose  you  will  say,  on 
account  of  the  miracles,  and  so  on  ;  since,  while  not 
contradicting  your  impressions  of  spiritual  truth,  it 
could  not  be  authenticated  without  external  evidence  ?  '* 

«  Exactly  so." 

"  But  is  not  the  other  doctrine  as  much  authenticated 
by  the  miracles  and  so  forth  ?  or  have  you  any  thing  to 
show  that,  while  all  those  passages  which  relate  to  the 
former  are  true  assertions,  as  well  as  truly  the  assertions 
of  those  who  published  the  revelation,  those  which  re- 
late to  the  latter  are  not  ?  " 

"  I  acknowledge  I  have  not,"  replied  the  youth. 

"  Or  supposing  they  are  not  their  sayings  at  all,  have 
you  any  evidence  by  which  you  can  show  that  they 
are  not,  so  as  to  separate  them  from  those  that  are  ?  " 

*'  I  must  admit  that  I  have  no  criterion  of  this  kind." 

"  For  aught  you  know,  then,  since  you  know  nothing 
of  Christianity  except  from  those  documents  in  which 
the  miracles  and  the  doctrines  are  alike  consigned  to 
you,  the  said  miracles,  together  with  the  other  evidence, 
do  equally  establish  the  truths  which  you  say  are  a  part 
of  divine  revelation,  and  the  errors  which  you  say  your 

*  spiritual  faculty,'  '  moral  intuitions,'  or  what  you  will, 
tells  you  that  you  are  to  reject.  You  believe,  then,  in 
the  force  of  evidence,  which  equally  establishes  truth 
and  falsenood  ?  " 

"  You  can  hardly  expect  me  to  admit  that." 
"  But  I  expect  you  to  answer  a  plain  question  ?  " 
"  Why,"  said  the  youth,  with  a  little  flippancy,  but 
with  a  good-humored   laugh   too,  "  the   proverb  says^ 

*  Even  a  fool  may  ask  questions  which  a  wise  man  can- 
not answer.' " 

"  I  acknowledge  myself  to  be  a  fool "  said  Harring- 
ton, with  a  half  serious,  half  comic  air ;  "  and  you  shalJ 
be  the  wise  man  who  does  not  —  for  I  wiL  not  say 
cannot  —  answer  the  fool's  question." 


A    VARIABLE    QUANTITY.  399 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  said  the  other.  "  I  acknowl- 
edge that  it  was  an  uncourteous  expression." 

"  Enough  said,"  replied  Harrington  ;  "  and  now,  since 
you  are  not  pleased  to  answer  my  question,  I  w41I  an- 
swer it  myself ;  and  I  say,  it  is  plain  that  the  evidence 
to  which  you  refer  does  affirm  equally  the  truths  you 
declare  thus  revealed  to  you,  and  the  errors  you  declare 
you  must  reject.  Now  either  the  evidence  is  not  suffi- 
cient to  prove  the  owe,  or  it  is  sufficient  to  prove  both. 
So  far,  then,  I  think  we  may  say,  and  say  justly,  that 
the  supposed  revelation  is  so  constructed  that  you  can- 
not accept  a  part  and  reject  a  part,  on  such  a  theory. 
But  to  make  the  case  a  little  plainer  still,  if  possible. 
There  have  been  men,  you  know,  who  have  taken  pre- 
cisely opposite  views  of  the  two  doctrines  you  have 
mentioned ;  who  have  declared  that  the  doctrine,  not 
of  man's  immortality,  but  of  the  resurrection,  so  far 
from  being  conceivable,  is,  in  their  judgment,  a  physi- 
cal contradiction  ;  but  who  have  also  declared  that  the 
doctrine  of  atonement^  in  some  shape,  is  instinctively 
taught  by  human  nature,  and  has  consequently  foimed 
a  part  of  almost  every  religion ;  that  it  is  in  analogy 
with  many  singular  facts  of  this  world's  constitution, 
and  is  not  absolutely  contradicted  by  any  principle  oi 
our  nature,  intellectual  or  moral.  Such  a  man,  there- 
fore, might  take  the  very  opposite  of  the  course  you 
have  taken.  He  would  proceed  upon  your  common 
basis  of  a  miraculously  confirmed  revelation,  grossly 
infested  with  errors  and  falsehoods  ;  he  might  say  that 
he  believed  the  authentication  of  the  doctrine  of  *  atone- 
ment '  in  virtue  of  the  evidence,  because,  though  tran- 
scendental to  his  reason,  it  was  not  repugnant  to  it ; 
but  that  he  rejected  the  doctrine  of  the  *  resurrection/ 
though  equally  established  by  the  evidence,  because 
contrary  to  the  plainest  conclusions  of  his  reason." 


THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  I  cannot  in  candor  deny,"  said  the  other,  "  the  pos- 
sibility of  such  a  case." 

"  And  in  such  a  case,  we  might  say,  he  does  the  very 
opposite  of  what  you  do." 

"  Neither  can  I  help  admitting  that." 

"  The  miracles,  then,  and  other  evidence,  not  only 
play  the  part  of  equally  supporting  truth  and  falsehood, 
but,  what  is  still  more  wonderful,  convert  the  same 
things,  in  different  men,  into  truth  and  falsehood  alter- 
nately. Miracles  they  must  verily  be  if  they  can  do 
that !  A  wonderful  revelation  it  certainly  is,  which 
thus  accommodates  itself  to  the  varying  conditions  of 
the  human  intellect  and  conscience,  and  demonstrates 
just  so  much  as  each  of  you  is  pleased  to  accept,  and 
no  more.  No  doubt  the  whole  *  corpus  dogmatum,'  so 
supported,  will,  by  the  entire  body  of  such  believers,  be 
eaten  up ;  just  as  was  the  Mahometan  hog,  so  humor- 
ously referred  to  by  Cowper ;  but  even  that  had  iiot  all 
its  *  forbidden  parts'  miraculously  shown  to  be  'unfor- 
bidden' to  different  minds  !  I  do  not  wonder  that  such 
a  revelation  should  need  miracles ;  that  any  should  be 
sufficient^  is  the  greatest  wonder  of  all ;  if  indeed  we 
except  two;  —  the  first,  that  Supreme  Wisdom  should 
have  constructed  such  a  curioas  revelation,  in  which  he 
has  revealed  alternately,  to  different  people,  truth  and 
falsehood,  and  has  established  each  on  the  very  same 
evidence;  and  the  second  (almost  as  great),  that  any 
rational  creature  should  be  got  to  receive  such  a  reve- 
lation on  such  evidence  as  equally  applies  to  points 
which  he  says  it  does  not  prove,  and  to  points  which 
he  says  it  does;  these  points,  however,  being,  it  ap- 
pears, totally  different  in  different  men  !  But  I  will 
now  go  to  your  friend,  who  has  got  a  point  further  in 
his  belief,  and  graciously  accepts  all  the  '  religious  ele- 
ments '  in  this  revelation." 


A    VARIABLE    QUANTITY.  401 

"  Excuse  me,"  said  the  last ;  "  before  you  go  to  him, 
permit  me  to  mention  a  difficulty  which  occurred  to  me 
while  we  were  speaking." 

"  By  all  means ;  but  I  do  ii  ot  promise  to  solve  it. 
Perhaps  I  on  this  occasion  shall  prove  the  '  wise  man,' 
though  I  am  sure  you  will  not  be  the  fool." 

"  You  recollect,"  said  the  other,  blushing,  "  our  dis- 
missing those  who,  while  contending,  like  myvself,  that 
such  and  such  doctrines  are  to  be  rejected^  differ  from 
me  in  this,  that  they  contend  that  the  said  doctrines  are 
not  contained  in  the  records  of  the  supposed  revelation 
at  all ;  while  others  contend  that  they  are.  Now,  if, 
while  the  two  parties  admit  the  general  evidence  which 
is  to  substantiate  all  that  is  in  the  records,  they  arrive 
by  different  interpretation  at  such  very  different  results 
as  to  the  supposed  truth  which  it  supports,  are  they  in 
any  better  condition  than  I  ?  There  is  the  same  differ- 
ence, though  arrived  at  in  different  ways ;  and  the  reve- 
lation still  remains  indeterminate." 

"  Your  objection  is  ingenious,"  replied  Harrington. 
"  First,  however,  it  is  rather  hard  to  ask  me  to  solve  a 
difficulty  with  which  I  am  in  no  way  concerned,  who 
profess  to  be  altogether  sceptical  on  the  subject.  Sec- 
ondly, it  certainly  does  not  at  all  mend  your  case  to 
prove  that  there  are  other  men  who  possibly  are  as  in- 
consistent as  yourself.  It  makes  your  theory  neither 
better  nor  worse.  But,  thirdly,  if  I  were  a  Christian^  I 
should  not  hesitate  to  contend  that  there  was  an  ob- 
vious and  vital  difference  in  the  two  cases." 

"  Indeed  !     If  you  can  show  thaU^ 

"  I  should  attempt  it,  at  aL  events.  I  should  say  thai 
in  the  latter  case  the  evidence  to  which  the  appeal  was 
made  did  not  equally  serve  to  establish  truth  and  false- 
hood, or,  what  is  still  worse,  alternately  to  make  false^ 
hood  truth,  and  truth  falsehood,  to  different  minds ;  that 

34* 


402  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

it  was  designed  to  establish  all  that  was  really  in  the 
records,  though  what  that  all  was  might  give  rise  to 
different  views,  from  the  prejudices  and  the  ignorance, 
the  different  degrees  of  intelligence  and  candor,  on  the 
part  of  those  who  interpreted  the  records;  that  they 
made  the  falsehoods,  and  not  the  records  or  the  evi- 
dence. I  should,  therefore,  have  no  difficulty  in  rela- 
tion to  what,  on  your  theory,  is  so  incomprehensible; 
namely,  that  God  should  have  given  man  so  peculiarly 
constructed  a  revelation.  That  men  should  differ  or 
err  in  its  interpretation  is  not,  I  presume,  very  wonder- 
ful, because  man,  they  say^  is  a  creature  of  prejudice 
and  passion  as  well  as  reason." 

"  But  God  would  still  have  given  the  revelation,  and 
yet  it  is  capable,  it  appears,  of  being  variously  inter- 
preted ! "  said  the  other. 

"  Very  true,  and  it  is  very  plain  to  me  that,  supposing 
him  to  have  given  any^  he  could  have  given  no  other, 
unless  his  omnipotence  had  been  immediately  exerted 
separately  upon  each  individual  of  the  human  race,  and 
then  in  such  a  way  as  to  supersede  all  the  moral  dis- 
cipline which  Christians  affirm  is  involved  in  its  recep- 
tion. Supposing  this  discipline  (as  those  who  believe 
in  a  revelation  contend)  to  be  an  essential  condition,  I 
cannot  conceive  God  himself  to  give  a  document  which 
man's  ingenuity  cannot  easily  misinterpret.  You  see 
man  plays  the  same  trick  equally  well  with  that  faculty 
of  '  spiritual  insight,'  which  some  say  is  the  sole  source 
of  religious  truth,  and  which  you  say  is  the  sole  arbiter 
of  an  external  revelation  !  We  cannot  find  two  of  you 
who  think  alike,  or  who  will  give  us  the  same  transcript 
of  religious  truth.  Similarly,  we  see  the  same  inge- 
nuity manifested  by  man  whenever  it  is  his  interest  to 
find  in  a  document  a  different  meaning  from  that  which 
it  apparently  carries  on  its  face.     Does  not  the  endless 


A    VARIABLE    QUANTITY. 


403 


controversy,  the  perpetual  litigation  of  men,  respecting 
the  meaning  of  seemingly  the  plainest  documents,  assure 
us  that,  if  a  revelation  were  really  given,  the  like  would 
be  possible  with  that  ?  It  is  doubtful  with  me,  there- 
fore, whether  God  himself  could  give  a  revelation,  such 
that  men  could  not  misrepresent  and  pervert  it;  that  is, 
as  long  as  they  were  rational  creatures,"  he  continued^ 
bitterly.  "But  the  mischief  of  your  theory  is,  that  it 
charges  the  inevitable  result  of  man's  perverseness  or 
ignorance  on  God,  and  the  revelation  he  has  been  sup- 
posed to  construct,  and  that  is  to  me  an  absurdity." 

"  I  do  not  see  that  these  answers  are  satisfactory," 
said  the  other. 

"  I  must  leave  you  to  judge  of  that,"  said  Harrington, 
"  or  to  contest  it  with  my  uncle  here.  I  am  keeping 
my  next  friend  waiting,  who,  I  can  see,  is  impatient  to 
run  a  course  in  favor  of  his  view  of  revelation.  He  tells 
us,  too,  that  a  divine  revelation,  as  conveyed  in  the  New 
Testament,  is  to  be  admitted,  but  he  cannot  away  with 
the  notion  that  its  certainty  extends  to  any  thing  more 
than  to  what  he  calls  the  '  religious  element.'  Is  not 
that  your  notion  ?  " 

"  It  is." 

"  You  think,  for  example,  that  it  is  possible  that  the 
Apostles  and  writers  of  the  New  Testament  (in  fact, 
whoever  had  the  charge  of  recording  and  transmitting 
to  posterity  the  doctrines  of  this  revelation)  were  left 
liable,  just  as  any  other  men,  to  all  sorts  of  errors,  geo- 
graphical, chronological,  logical,  historical,  political, 
moral " 

"  No,  no,  not  moral,"  said  the  other;  "  I  did  not  say 
moral :  their  morality  is  implied  in  their  theology." 

"  O,  very  well!  we  shall  better  see  that  presently; 
only  I  have  to  remind  you,  for  the  glory  of  your  Ration- 
alism, that  other  Rationalists  make  the  errors  extend 


404  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

even  to  the  '  moral  element ' ;  but  it  is  all  one  to  me. 
You  say,  that,  as  far  as  regards  every  thing  else,  it  is 
very  possible  that  these  *  inspired'   men  might  err  to 
any  amount  ?  " 
p.,^^;"  Yes;  I  believe  it." 

\"  You  have,  doubtless,  some  reason  for  saying  that 
they  were  made  infallible  in  religion  and  morality,  but 
liable  to  all  sorts  of  errors  on  other  subjects  ?  " 

"  Nothing  but  this ;  that,  if  to  give  us  '  spiritual  truth ' 
(as  is  supposed)  was  their  proper  function  (and  we  can- 
not but  suppose  that  it  was),  they  must  have  been  in- 
vested (we  must  suppose)  with  all  the  necessary  quali- 
ties for  this  end,  since  I  am  supposing  that  even  miracles 
were  thought  worth  working  in  order  to  confirm  their 
doctrine." 

"  You  use  the  word  suppose  rather  frequently,  my 
friend ;  however,  I  will  not  quarrel  with  you  for  that ; 
only  you  ought  not  to  be  surprised  if,  adopting  your 
last  supposition,  —  that,  when  miracles  and  inspiration 
have  been  supposed  to  be  vouchsafed  to  authenticate  a 
particular  revelation,  all  such  endowments,  at  least,  will 
be  granted  as  shall  secure  that  object  from  defeat,  — 
other  Christians  further  suppose  that  the  documents  in 
which  the  revelation  was  to  be  consigned  to  all  future 
ages  would  not  be  disfigured  (and  in  many  respects 
obscured)  by  the  liability  of  their  authors  to  all  sorts  of 
errors  on  an  infinity  of  points,  hopelessly  entangled,  as 
we  shall  soon  see,  with  this  one  !  that  when  heaven  was 
>1  at  the  trouble  to  embark  its  cargo  of  diamonds  and 
»  pearls  for  this  world,  it  would  not  send  them  in  a  vessel 
with  a  great  hole  in  the  bottom !  If  the  Apostles  were 
plenarily  inspired  with  regard  to  this  one  subject,  men 
will  think  it  strange,  perhaps,  that  divine  aid  should 
not  have  gone  a  little  further,  and  since  the  destined 
revelation  was  to  be  recorded    or  rather  imbedded,  in 


A    VARIABLE    QT'ANTITY.  405 

history^  illustrated  by  imagirMion^  enforced  by  argu- 
ment, and  expressed  in  human  language,  —  its  authors 
should  have  been  left  liable  to  destroy  the  substance  by 
egregious  and  perpetual  blunders  as  to  the  form ;  to  run 
the  chance  of  knocking  out  the  brains  of  the  unfortu- 
nate revelation  by  upsetting  the  vehicle  in  which  it  was 
to  be  conveyed  I " 

"  But,  then,  these  supposed  endowments  are  purely  a 
supposition  on  the  part  of  Christians  in  general." 

"  Just  as  yours,  we  may  say,  of  an  indefectible  wis- 
dom on  one  point  is  a  supposition  on  your  part.  I 
think  in  that  respect  that  you  are  both  well  matched. 
But  I  freely  confess  that  I  think  their  supposition  more 
plausible  than  yours ;  and,  if  I  were  an  advocate  for 
Christianity,  I  should  certainly  rather  suppose  with  them 
than  suppose  with  you ;  that  is,  I  should  think  it  more 
credible,  if  God  interposed  with  such  stupendous  in- 
struments as  miracles,  inspiration,  and  prophecy  at  all, 
he  would  endow  the  men  thus  favored  (not  with  all 
knowledge,  indeed,  but)  with  whatever  was  necessary 
to  prevent  their  encountering  a  certainty  of  vitiating 
their  testimony." 

"  But  how  would  their  testimony  be  liable  to  be 
vitiated  ?  I  am  supposing  them  to  be  absolutely  free 
from  error  as  regards  the  religious  element,  which  they 
deliver  pure." 

'•We  shall  see  in  a  minute  whether  their  testimony 

V  as  liable  to  be  vitiated  or  not,  and  whether  the  sepa- 

ation  for  which  you  contend  be  conceivable,  or  even 

possible.     I  fear  that  you  have  no  winnowing-fan  which 

will  separate  the  chaff  from  the  wheat." 

"  To  me,  nothing  seems  more  easy  than  the  supposi- 
tion I  have  made." 

"  Few  things  are  more  easy  than  to  make  supposi- 
tions ;  but  let  us  see.     I  am  sure  you  will  answer  as 


406  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

fairly  as  I  shall  ask  questions.  To  do  otherwise  would 
be  to  separate  the  *  moral  element '  from  the  *  logical,' 
whatever  the  New  Testament  writers  may  have  done. 
You  believe,  you  say,  in  the  resurrection  of  Christ  ? '' 

"  I  do." 

"  As  difact  or  doctrine  ?  "  c/.f^TOf75  uTwt: 

"  Both  as  a  fact  and  doctrine."  "^-f—^-"'-*^ •-»►!> 

"  For  it  is  both,  if  true,"  said  Harrington ;  "  and  so, 
I  apprehend,  it  will  be  found  with  the  other  doctrines 
of  Christianity.  Whether,  in  your  particular  latitude 
of  Rationalism,  you  believe  many  or  few  of  them,  still, 
if  true  at  all  (which  we  at  present  take  for  granted), 
they  are  hoih.  facts  and  doctrines^  from  the  Incarnation 
to  the  Resurrection.  But  to  confine  ourselves  to  owe,  — 
that  of  the  Resurrection,  —  for  one  will  answer  my  pur- 
pose as  well  as  a  thousand ;  —  that,  you  say,  is  a  fact, 
—  ^fact  of  history  ?  " 

"  It  is." 

"  It  is,  then,  conveyed  to  us  as  such  ?  " 

«  Certainly." 

"  Were  the  recorders  of  that  fact  liable  to  error  in 
conveying  it  to  us  ?  In  other  words,  might  they  so 
blunder  in  conveying  that  fact  (as  we  know  the  unaided 
historian  may,  and  often  does)  as  to  leave  us  in  just 
doubt  whether  it  ever  took  place  or  not  ?  " 

"  Well,"  said  the  youth,  "  and  you  know  they  have 
exhibited  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  suggest  many  apparent 
discrepancies,  and  those  very  difficult  to  be  reconciled." 

"  I  am  aware  of  it,  and  for  that  very  reason  selected 
this  particular  fact.  In  my  judgment,  there  are  no 
passages  which  more  exercise  the  ingenuity  of  the  har- 
monists than  those  which  record  the  transactions  con- 
nected with  the  resurrection.  But  still,  in  spite  of 
them  all,  I  presume  that  you  do  not  think  that  those 
discrepancies  really  call  the  fact  in  question,  else  you 


A    VARIABLE    QUANTITY.  ''^^$9 

would  not  continue  to  believe  it.  I  should  then  sud- 
denly find  myself  arguing  with  a  very  different  person." 

"  Certainly,  you  are  quite  right.  I  agree  that  the 
substantial  facts  are  as  the  writers  have  delivered  them ; 
although  they  may,  from  their  liability  to  error,  have 
delivered  some  of  the  details  erroneously." 

"  But  might  this  liability  to  error  have  led  them  a  lit- 
tle further  in  their  discrepancies,  so  as  to  involve  the 
fact  itself  in  just  doubt,  and  so  of  other  great  facts 
which  constitute  the  doctrines  as  well  as  the  facts  of 
Scripture  ?  " 

"  Of  course,  I  think  it  might,  since  I  suppose  them 
unaided  by  any  supernatural  wisdom  in  this  respect." 

"  The  answer  is  honest.  I  thought,  perhaps,  you 
would  have  answered  differently,  in  which  case  you 
would  have  given  me  the  trouble  of  pursuing  the  argu- 
ment one  step  further.  It  appears,  then,  that,  though 
inspired  to  give  mankind  a  true  statement  of  doctrines,, 
yet  that,  when  these  doctrines  assume  the  form  of  facts 
(which,  unhappily,  they  do  perpetually),  this  hazardous 
liability  to  error  as  historians  may  counteract  their  in- 
spiration, and  they  may  give  them  in  such  a  form  as  to 
throw  upon  them  all  manner  of  doubts  and  suspicions  ; 
possibly  they  have  done  so,  for  aught  you  can  tell.  — 
But,  again,  you  also  affirm  that  these  so-called  inspired 
men  were  liable  to  make  all  sorts  of  logical  blunders, 
just  as  the  uninspired." 

"  Certainly ;  and  I  must  confess  I  think  the  logic  of 
the  Apostle  Paul,  in  particular,  often  exceedingly  ab- 
surd." 

"  Very  fair  and  candid.  For  example,  I  dare  say 
that  you  do  not  think  much  of  his  arguments  or  infer- 
ences from  certain  doctrines ;  or  his  proofs  of  those  doc- 
trines from  the  Old  Testament  or " 

"  They  are  not,  indeed,  worth  much  in  my  estima- 
tion." 


408  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  Candid  again ;  but  then  it  is  plain,  first,  that  you 
will  have  to  distinguish  between  the  pure  doctrines 
which  Paul  derived  from  a  celestial  source,  and  his 
erroneous  proofs  or  inferences,  which  are  delivered  in 
precisely  the  same  manner  and  with  the  same  assump- 
tion of  authority.  And  this,  I  think,  w^ould  be  an  in- 
superable task ;  at  least,  it  seems  so,  for  you  Rational- 
ists decide  this  matter  very  differently.  When  any  of 
you  favor  me  with  your  sketches  of  the  true  heaven- 
descended  Pauline  theology,  I  find  them  widely  differ- 
ent from  each  other.  Your  '  religious  element '  is  of  the 
most  variable  volume.  Some  of  you  include  nearly  the 
w^hole  creed  of  ordinary  orthodoxy  ;  others,  fifty  or  even 
eighty  per  cent,  less,  both  in  bulk  and  weight." 

"  Perhaps  so." 

"  Perhaps  so  I  But  then,  what  becomes  of  your  prin- 
ciple, that  you  may  separate  the  pure  '  religious  ele- 
ment,' as  conveyed  to  the  minds  of  the  sacred  writers 
by  direct  illumination,  from  the  errors  of  vicious  logic 
which  have  been  permitted  to  mingle  with  it?  To  me, 
it  appears  any  thing  but  easy  to  separate  the  functions 
of  a  revealer  of  truli/  inspired  truth  from  the  vitiating 
influences  of  a  fallacious  logic.  The  '  heavenly  vision,' 
however  '  obedient '  a  Paul  may  be  to  it,  will  be  but 
obscurely  represented,  and  suffer  egregiously  from  that 
distorted  image  which  the  ill-constructed  mirror  will 
convey  to  us.  —  But  once  more,  I  think  you  do  not  hold 
Paul's  rhetoric  to  be  always  of  the  first  excellence  ?  " 

"  Certainly  not ;  I  think  his  representations  are  often 
as  faulty  as  his  logic  is  vicious  ;  especially  when,  under 
the  influence  of  his  Jewish  education,  he  throws  old 
Gamaliel's  mantle  over  his  shoulders,  and  dotes  about 
*  allegories '  founded  on  the  Old  Testament." 

"  Fair  and  candid  once  more ;  but  then,  I  suppose, 
you  will  admit  that  the  divine  truths  which  he  was, 


A    VARIABLE    QUANTITY.  409 

nevertheless,  commissioned  to  teach  mankiijd,  will,  like 
any  other  truths,  be  much  affected  by  the  mode  in 
which  they  are  represented  to  the  imagination;  will 
become  brighter  or  more  obscure,  more  animated  or 
more  feeble,  and  even  more  just  or  distorted,  as  this 
task  is  wisely  and  judiciously,  or  preposterously  per- 
formed? " 
"  No  doubt." 

"  Then  it  appears,  I  think,  that,  if  there  were  noth- 
ing to  control  the  Apostle  Paul's  manner  of  exhibiting 
divine  verities,  even  in  relation  only  to  the  imagina- 
tion, there  might  be  all  the  difference  between  sober 
truth  and  fanatical  perversions  of  it.  I  might,  in  the 
same  manner,  proceed  to  show  that  the  feeling's,  uncon- 
trolled by  a  superior  influence,  would  be  also  likely  to 
give  distortion  or  exaggeration  to  the  doctrines.  But 
it  is  enough.  It  appears  very  plain,  that,  according  to 
pour  hypothesis,  even  though  the  Apostles  were  com- 
missioned to  teach  by  supernatural  illumination  certain 
truths,  yet  that,  being  liable  to  be  infected  with  all  the 
faults  of  false  history,  bad  logic,  vicious  rhetoric,  fa- 
natical feeling,  these  divine  truths  might,  possibly,  be 
most  falsely  presented  to  us.  We  have,  really,  no 
guaranty  but  your  gratuitous  *  supposition '  that  they 
have  been  taught  at  all.  We  have  no  criterion  for 
separating  what  is  thus  divine  from  what  is  merely 
human.  I  fear,  therefore,  your  distinction  will  not  hold. 
The  stream,  whatever  the  crystal  purity  of  its  fountain, 
could  not  fail  to  be  horribly  impure  by  the  time  it  had 
flowed  through  such  foul  conduits." 

"  In  short,"  continued  Harrington,  with  a  bitter  smile 
at  the  same  time,  "  there  are  but  three  consistent  char- 
acters in  the  world ;  the  Bible  Christian,  and  the  gen- 
uine Atheist,  —  or  the  absolute  Sceptic." 

"  No,  —  no,  —  no,"  exclaimed  the  whole  trio  at  once ; 

35 


410  Tftfi    EdLlPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  and  you  yourself  must  be  true  to  your  principles,  and 
therefore  sceptical  as  to  this." 

"  It  is,"  he  replied,  "  one  of  the  very  few  things 
which  I  am  not  sceptical  about.  At  all  events,  right  or 
wrong,  I  am,  as  usual,  willing  to  give  you  my  reasons 
for  my  belief." 

"  Rather  say  your  doubtSj'^  said  Fellowes. 

"  Well,  for  my  doubts^  then.  You  see,  my  friends, 
the  matter  is  as  follows.  The  Christian  speaks  on  this 
wise :  — 
.^  "  *  I  find,  in  reference  to  Christianity  as  in  reference 
to  Theism,  what  appears  to  me  an  immense  preponder- 
ance of  evidence  of  various  kinds  in  favor  of  its  truth ; 
y  but  both  alike  I  find  involved  in  many  difficulties 
which  I  acknowledge  to  be  insurmountable,  and  in 
many  mysteries  which  I  cannot  fathom.  I  believe  the 
conclusions  in  spite  of  them.  As  to  the  revelation,  I 
see  some  of  its  discrepancies  are  the  effect  of  transcrip- 
tion and  corruption ;  others  are  the  result  of  omissions 
of  one  or  more  of  the  writers,  which,  if  supplied,  would 
show  that  they  are  apparent  only;  of  others,  I  can 
suggest  no  explanations  at  all ;  and,  over  and  above 
these,  I  see  difficulties  of  doctrine  which  I  can  no 
,  more  profess  to  solve  than  I  can  the  parallel  perplex- 
ities in  Nature  and  Providence,  and  especially  those 
involved  in  the  permitted  phenomenon  of  an  infinity 
of  physical  and  moral  evil.  As  to  these  difficulties,  I 
simply  submit  to  them,  because  I  think  the  rejection 
of  the  evidence  for  the  truths  which  they  embarrass 
would  involve  me  in  a  much  greater  difficulty.  With 
regard  to  many  of  the  difficulties,  in  both  cases,  I  see 
that  the  progress  of  knowledge  and  science  is  con- 
tinually tending  to  dissipate  some,  and  to  diminish,  if 
not  remove,  the  weight  of  others  :  I  see  that  a  dawning 
light  now  glimmers  on  many  portions  of  the  void  where 


A    VARIABLE    QUANTITY.  411 

continuous  darkness  once  reigned;  though  that  very 
light  has  also  a  tendency  to  disclose  other  difficulties ; 
for,  as  the  sphere  of  knowledge  increases,  the  outline  of 
darkness  beyond  also  increases,  and  increases  even  in  a 
greater  ratio.  But  I  also  find,  I  frankly  admit,  that  on 
many  of  my  difficulties,  and  especially  that  connected 
with  the  origin  of  evil,  and  other  precisely  analogous 
difficulties  of  Scripture,  no  light  whatever  is  cast:  to 
the  solution  of  them,  man  has  not  made  the  slightest 
conceivable  approximation.  These  things  I  submit  to, 
as  an  exercise  of  my  faith  and  a  test  of  my  docility, 
and  that  is  all  I  have  to  say  about  them  ;  you  will  not 
alter  my  views  by  dwelling  on  them,  for  your  sense  of 
them  cannot  be  stronger  than  mine.^  Thus  speaks  the 
Christian;  and  the  Atheist  and  the  Sceptic  occupy 
ground  as  consistent.  They  say,  '  "We  agree  with  you 
Christians,  that  the  Bible  contains  no  greater  difficulties 
than  those  involved  in  the  inscrutable  "  constitution  and 
course  of  nature  "  ;  but  on  the  very  principles  on  which 
the  Rationalist,  or  Spiritualist,  or  Deist,  or  whatever  he 
pleases  to  call  himself,  rejects  the  divine  origin  of  the 
former,  we  are  compelled  to  go  a  few  steps  further,  and 
deny  —  or  doubt  —  the  divine  origin  of  the  latter.  It 
is  true  that  the  Bible  presents  no  greater  difficulties 
than  the  external  universe  and  its  administration ;  (it 
cannot  involve  greater;)  bat  if  those  difficulties  are 
sufficient  to  justify  the  denial  or  doubt  of  the  divine 
authorship  of  the  one,  they  are  sufficient  to  justify  de- 
nial or  doubt  about  the  divine  origin  of  the  other.'  -  - 
But  as  to  you^  what  consistent  position  can  you  take, 
so  long  as  you  affirm  and  deny  so  capriciously  ?  who 
*  strain  at  the  gnats'  of  the  Bible,  and  'swallow  the 
camels '  of  your  Natural  Religion  ?  You  ought,  on  the 
principle  on  which  you  reject  so  much  of  the  Bible,— ^ 
namely,  that  it  does  not  harmonize  with  the  deductions 


i) 


^SBS  TnrE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

of  your  mtellect,  the  instincts  of  conscience,  the  intu- 
itions of  the  '  spiritual  faculty,'  and  Heaven  knows  what, 
- —  to  become  Manichaeans  at  the  least." 
•  ^    "  But  these  very  arguments,"  said  one  of  the  youths, 
/  '"are  just  the  old-fashioned  arguments  of  Butler,  which 
\  it  is  surelydroll  of  all  things  to  find  el  sceptic  making 
\jase  of." 

"  I  admit  they  are  his,  my  friend ;  but  not  that  there 
is  any  inconsistency  in  mi/  employing  them.  I  affirm 
that  Butler  is  quite  right  in  his  premises,  though  I  may 
reject  the  conclusion  to  which  he  would  bring  me.  He 
leaves  two  alternatives,  and  only  two,  in  my  judgment, 
open ;  leaves  two  parties  untouched ;  one  is  the  Chris- 
tian, and  the  other  is  the  Atheist  or  the  Sceptic,  which- 
ever you  please;  but  I  am  profoundly  convinced  he 
does  not  leave  a  consistent  footing  for  any  thing  be- 
tween. His  fire  does  not  injure  the  Christian,  for  it 
comes  out  of  his  own  camp ;  nor  me,  for  it  falls  short 
of  my  lines ;  but  for  you,  who  have  pitched  your  tents 
between,  take  heed  to  yourselves.  He  proves  clearly 
enough,  that  the  very  difficulties  for  which  you  reject 
Christianity  exist  equally,  sometimes  to  a  still  greater 
amount,  in  the  domain  of  nature." 

"Oh  !"  said  the  youngest,  "we  do  not  think  that 
Butler's  argument  is  soundP 

"  Then,"  said  Harrington,  "  the  sooner  you  refute  it 
the  better.  All  you  have  to  do  is,  just  to  show  that 
this  world  does  not  exhibit  the  inequalities,  —  the  mis- 
eries,—  the  apparent  caprice  in  its  administration, — 
the  involuntary  ignorance,  — the  enormous  wrongs,  — 
the  wide-spread  sorrows  and  death,  —  it  does.  You 
will  do  greater  service  to  the  Deist  than  the  whole  of 
his  tribe  have  ever  done  him  yet.  I  am  convinced  that 
Butler  is  not  to  be  refuted." 
^'   "  But  do  you  not  recollect  what  no  less  a  man  than 


L 


A    VARIABLE    QUANTITY.  413 

Pitt  said,  —  *  Analogy  is  an  argument  so  easily  retort- 
ed I '  "  replied  the  same  youth. 

"  Then  you  will  have  the  less  difficulty  in  retorting 
it,"  said  Harrington,  coolly.  "  Pitt's  observation  only 
shows  that  he  had  forgotten  the  true  object  of  the  work, 
or  never  understood  it.  For  the  purposes  of  refutation^ 
it  does  not  follow  that  an  analogy  may  be  easily  retort- 
ed; it  may  be,  and  often  is,  irresistible.  It  is  when 
employed  to  establish  a  truth,  not  to  expose  an  error, 
that  it  is  often  feeble.  If  Butler  had  attempted  to 
prove  that  the  inhabitants  of  Jupiter  must  be  miserable, 
nothing  could  have  been  more  ridiculous  than  to  ad- 
duce the  analogy  of  our  planet.  But  if  he  merely 
wished  to  show  that  it  did  not  follow  that  that  beautiful 
orb,  being  created  by  infinite  power,  wisdom,  and  good- 
ness, must  be  an  abode  of  happiness,  (just  the  Ration- 
alist style  of  reasoning,)  it  would  be  quite  sufficient 
to  introduce  the  speculator  to  this  ill-starred  planet  of 
ours." 

There  are  few  who  will  not  acquiesce  in  this  remark 
of  Harrington's,  however  they  may  lament  the  alterna- 
tive he  seemed  disposed  to  take.  Assuredly,  for  the 
specific  object  in  view,  no  book  written  by  man  was 
ever  more  conclusive  than  that  of  Butler.  For  if  you 
can  show  to  an  unbeliever  in  Christianity,  who  is  yet 
(as  most  are)  a  T heist,  that  any  Qbiection  derived  from 
its  apparent  repugnance  to  wisdom  or  goodness  applies 
equally  to  the  "  constitution  and  course  of  nature,"  you 
do  fairly  compel  him  (as  long  as  he  remains  a  Theist) 
to  admit  that  that  objection  ought  not  to  have  weight 
with  him.  He  has  indeed  an  alternative ;  that  of 
Atheism  or  Scepticism ;  but  it  is  clear  he  must  give  up 
either  his  argument  or  his  —  Theism.  It  may  be  called, 
indeed,  an  argument  ad  hominem ;  but  as  almost  every 
unbeliever  in  Christianity  is  a  man  of  the  above  stamp, 
35  • 


7^ 


414  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

it  is  of  wide  application.  This  is  the  fair  issue  to 
which  Butler  brings  the  argument; -and  the  conclusive- 
ness of  his  logic  has  been  shown  in  this,  that,  how- 
ever easily  "  analogies  "  may  be  "  retorted,"  the  parties 
affected  by  it  have  never  answered  it.  I  was  amused 
with  the  criticism  with  which  Harrington  wound  up. 
"  Butler,"  said  he,  "  v^Tote  but  little  ;  but  when  read- 
ing him,  I  have  often  thought  of  Walter  Scott's  old 
wolf-dog  Maida,  who  seldom  was  tempted  to  join  in 
the  bark  of  his  lesser  canine  associates.  '  He  seldom 
opens  his  mouth,'  said  his  master;  *but  when  he 
does,  he  shakes  the  Eildon  Hills.  Maida  is  like  the 
great  gun  at  Constantinople,  —  it  takes  a  long  time  to 
load  it;  but  when  it  does  go  off,  it  goes  off  for  some- 
thing!'" 


Aug-.  1.  I  this  day  put  into  Mr.  Fellowes's  hands 
the  brief  notes  on  the  three  questions  on  which  he  had 
solicited  my  opinion.     They  were  as  follows  :  — 

I.  Mr.  Newman  says  that  it  is  an  idle  boast  that  the 
elevation  of  woman  is  in  any  high  degree  attributable 
to  the  Gospel.  "  In  point  of  fact,"  says  he,  "  Christian 
doctrine,  as  propounded  by  Paul,  is  not  at  all  so  hon- 
orable to  woman  as  that  which  German  soundness  of 
heart  has  established.  With  Paul  the  sole  reason  for 
marriage  is  that  a  man  may  without  sin  vent  his  sen- 
sual desires." 

If,  indeed,  there  were  no  other  passage  in  the  New 
Testament  than  that  to  which  Mr.  Newman  refers,  there 
might  be  something  to  be  said  for  him.  But  it  is  only 
one  of  many,  and  the  question  really  at  issue  is  conse- 
quently blinked,  namely.  What  is  the  aspect  of  the  entire 
New  Testament  institute  upon  the  relations  of  woman  ? 
It  is  true,  indeed,  that  the  reason  for  marriage  which 


DISCUSSION    OF    THREE    QUESTIONS.  415 

Mr.  Newman  contends  is  the  only  thing  Paul  thought 
about,  is  very  properly  urged ;  for  from  the  constitution 
of  human  nature,  (as  every  comprehensive  philosopher 
and  legislator  would  admit,)  as  well  as  from  the  hor- 
rible condition  of  th  ngs  where  marriage  is  neglected, 
prominence  is  very  j  istly  given  to  the  preservation  of 
chastity  as  one  of  the  primary  objects  of  the  institution. 
But  the  question  as  between  Mr.  Newman  and  Chris- 
tianity is  this :  Is  this  the  only  aspect  under  which  the 
relations  of  man  and  woman  are  represented  to  us? 
That  every  thing  is  not  said  in  one  passage  is  true 
enough.  From  the  desultory  manner  in  which  the 
ethics  as  well  as  doctrines  of  the  New  Testament  are 
expounded  to  us,  and  especially  from  the  casual  form 
which  they  assume  in  the  Apostolic  Epistles,  where  the 
particular  circumstances  of  the  parties  addressed  natu- 
rally suggested  the  degree  of  prominence  given  to  each 
topic,  we  must  fairly  examine  the  whole  volume  in  or- 
der to  comprehend  the  spirit  of  the  whole,  and  not  take 
up  a  solitary  passage  as  though  it  were  the  only  one. 
Now,  if  we  examine  other  passages,  we  cannot  fail  to 
see  that  the  New  Testament  consecrates  married  life  by 
enjoining  the  utmost  purity,  devotion,  and  tenderness 
of  affection.  Look  at  only  one  or  two  of  the  passages 
in  which  the  New  Testament  enjoins  the  reciprocal  du 
ties  of  husbands  and  wives ;  what  sort  of  model  it  pro- 
poses for  their  love.  "  Husbands,  love  your  wives,  even 
as  Christ  also  loved  the  Church  and  gave  himself  for 

it Let  every  one  in  particular  so  love  his  wife 

even  as  himself;  and  the  wife  see  that  she  reverence 
her  husband.  So  ought  men  to  love  their  wives  as 
their  own  bodies,  ....  giving  honor  unto  the  wife  fts 
unto  the  weaker  vessel,  and  as  being  heirs  together  ot 
the  grace  of  life." 

Is  this  like  condemning  women  to  be  "  elegant  toys 
and  voluptuous  appendages  "  ? 


416  JW      THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

Admitting,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  the  whole 
of  Christianity  is  a  delusion ;  that  Christ  never  lived, 
and  therefore  never  died;  that  he  is  a  more  palpable 
myth  than  even  Dr.  Strauss  contends  for;  still  it  is  im- 
possible not  to  see  that  the  writers  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment represent  his  love  for  man  as  the  ideal  of  pure, 
disinterested,  self-sacrificing  affection ;  this  appears 
whether  we  listen  to  the  words  which  the  Evangelists 
have  put  into  his  mouth,  or  those  in  which  they  have 
spoken  of  him.  "  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this, 
that  a  man  lay  dowirhis  life  for  his  friends."  Now,  let 
there  be  as  much  or  as  little  historic  truth  in  such  state- 
ments, in  the  doings  and  sufferings  of  Christ  on  behalf 
of  humanity,  as  you  will,  the  conclusion  is  irresistible 
^  that  his  conduct  (real  or  imaginary)  is  set  forth  as  the 
p  exhibition  of  unequalled  patience,  gentleness,  meek- 
ness, and  forbearance ;  of  a  love  anxious  to  purchase, 
at  the  dearest  cost,  the  purest  and  highest  happiness  of 
its  objects.  Now  such  is  the  pattern  of  affection  which 
the  Apostles  commend  to  the  imitation  of  "  husbands 
and  wives"  in  their  conduct  towards  one  another. 
Such  is  to  be  the  lofty  standard  which  their  love  is  to 
emulate.  Is  it  possible  to  go  further  ?  Does  not  the 
fantastical  observance,  or  rather  the  absolute  idolatry 
of  women  cherished  by  chivalry,  —  itself,  however, 
rooted  in  the  influences  of  a  corrupt  Christianity, — 
look  like  a  caricature  beside  the  picture?  And  who 
are  the  "  poets  of  Germanic  culture  "  who  have  risen  to 
an  equal  ideal  of  the  reciprocal  duties  and  sentiments 
of  wedded  life  ?  I  must  contend  that  so  beautiful  a 
picture  of  a  real  equality  between  man  and  woman,  — 
fpjanded  on  the  love  of  the  common  Lord  of  both,  — 
such  a  picture  of  woman's  true  elevation,  was  never 
realized  in  the  ancient  world,  nor  would  have  been  to 
this  day  had  not  Christianity  been  promulgated ;  nor  is 


DCSCUSSION    OF    THREE    QUESTIONS.  417 

now^  except  where  Christianity  is  known,  though,  alas ! 
not  always  where  it  is.  But  if  you  think  otherwise, 
beg  Mr.  Newman  to  give  you  a  catena  of  passages 
from  the  "  poets  of  Germanic  culture  "  (he  has  not  ad- 
duced a  syllable  in  proof)  ;  and  recollect  it  ought  to  be 
from  Germanic  poets  who  lived  before  the  Germans 
were  Christians  I  Or  perhaps  you  would  wish  to  seek 
the  Germanic  "  sentiment "  towards  woman  pure  in  its 
source,  as  given  in  the  certainly  not  unfavorable  esti- 
mate of  Tacitus.  In  their  respect  for  woman  and  the 
stress  they  laid  on  chastity,  the  ancient  Germans  tran- 
scended without  doubt  many  savages.  Still,  few  read- 
ers will  suppose  there  was  much  reason  to  boast  of  the 
elevation  of  women,  or  the  presence  of  much  refined 
"  sentiment "  between  the  sexes !  As  long  as  women 
do  all  the  drudgery  of  house  dindi  field  work,  while  their 
lazy  husbands  drink  and  gamble ;  as  long  as  they  are 
liable  (and  their  children  too)  to  be  sold  or  put  on  the 
hazard  of  a  cast  of  the  dice ;  as  long  as  they  are  them- 
selves ferocious  enough  to  go  out  to  battle  with  their 
husbands ;  I  presume  you  will  think  the  "  Germanic 
culture "  very  far  short  of  the  "  culture "  likely  to  be 
produced  by  the  New  Testament!  Well  says  Gibbon, 
"  Heroines  of  such  a  cast  may  claim  admiration ;  but 
they  were  most  assuredly  neither  lovely  nor  very  sus- 
ceptible of  love." 

II.  Mr.  Newman  says,  that  undue  credit  has  been 
claimed  for  Christianity  as  the  foe  and  extirpator  of 
slavery.  He  says  that,  at  this  day,  the  "  New  Testa- 
ment is  the  argumentative  stronghold  of  those  who  are 
trying  to  keep  up  the  accursed  system."  Would  it  not 
have  been  candid  to  add,  that  the  New  Testament  has 
ever  been  also  the  stronghold  of  those  who  oppose  it,  as 
well  in  this  country  as  in  America  ?  It  is  on  the  express 
ground  ot  its  supposed  inconsistency  with  the  maxims 


418  W'      THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

and  spirit  of  Christianity,  that  the  great  mass  of  Aboli- 
tionists hate  and  loathe  it.  A  public  clamor  against  it 
was  never  raised  in  the  days  of  ancient  slavery,  nor  is 
now  in  any  country  where  Christianity  is  unknown. 
The  oppositici.ri  to  it  in  our  own  country  was  a  religious 
one;  that  we  ^now  full  well;  and  so  is  the  opposition 
of  the  American  Abolitionists  at  the  present  day.  If 
selfish  cupidity,  on  the  one  hand,  appeals  to  the  New 
Testament  for  its  continuance,  so  does  philanthropy,  on 
the  other,  for  its  abolition ;  and  though  in  my  judgment 
the  inferences  of  the  latter  are  far  more  reasonable,  the 
mere  fact  that  both  parties  appeal  to  the  book  shows 
that  the  New  Testament  neither  sanctions  it  —  rather 
the  contrary  by  implication  —  nor  expressly  denounces 
it ;  —  Mr.  Newman  doubtless  can  do  it  safely.  This 
very  moderation  of  language,  however,  has  to  many 
minds,  and  those  of  no  mean  capacity,  (the  late  Dr. 
Chalmers  for  example,)  been  regarded  as  an  indication 
of  the  wisdom  which  has  presided  over  the  construction 
of  the  New  Testament ;  it  was  not  only  a  tone  peremp- 
torily demanded  by  the  necessary  conditions  of  publish- 
ing Christianity  at  all,  but  was  best  adapted,  —  nay, 
alone  adapted,  —  in  the  actual  condition  of  the  world 
in  relation  to  slavery,  to  make  any  salutary  impression. 
Admitting  that  the  great,  the  primary  end  of  the 
Gospel  was  spiritual;  that  it  was  the  object  of  the 
A-postles  to  obtain  for  it  a  dispassionate  hearing  among 
all  nations ;  and  that,  however  they  might  hope  indi- 
rectly to  affect  the  temporal  prosperity  and  political 
welfare  of  mankind,  all  good  of  this  kind  was  in  their 
view  subordinate  to  that  spiritual  amelioration,  which, 
if  affected,  would  necessarily  involve  all  inferior  social 
and  political  improvements;  —  I  say,  admitting  this,  it 
is  really  difficult  to  imagine  any  other  course  open  to  a 
wise  choice  thai  i  that  which  was  actually  adopted.     I 


DISCUSSION    OP    THREE    QUESTIONS.  419 

contend,  that  in  not  passionately  denouncing  slavery, 
and  in  contenting  themselves  with  quietly  depositing 
those  principles  and  sentiments  which,  while  achieving 
objects  infinitely  more  important,  would  infallibly  abol- 
ish it,  the  Apostles  took  the  wisest  course,  even  with 
relation  to  this  latter  object,  —  though  it  was  doubtless 
not  the  course  into  which  a  blind  fanaticism  would 
have  plunged.  To  enter  upon  an  open  crusade  against 
slavery  in  that  age  would  have  been  to  render  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  a  simple  impossibility,  and  to 
convert  a  professedly  moral  and  spiritual  institute  into 
an  engine  of  political  agitation  ;  it  would  have  afforded 
the  indignant  governments  of  the  world  —  quite  prompt 
enough  to  charge  it  with  seditious  tendencies  —  a  plau- 
sible pretext  for  its  suppression.  Both  the  primary  and 
the  secondary  objects  would  have  been  sacrificed  ;  and 
the  chains  of  slavery  riveted,  not  relaxed.  Slavery,  in 
that  age,  we  must  recollect,  was  interwoven  with  the 
entire  fabric  of  society  in  almost  all  nations.  To  de- 
nounce it  would  have  been  a  provocation,  nay,  a  chal- 
lenge, to  a  servile  war  in  every  country  to  which  the 
zeal  of  the  Christian  emissaries  might  carry  the  Gospel. 
Contenting  themselves,  therefore,  with  the  enunciation 
of  those  principles  which,  where  they  are  truly  em- 
braced, are  inconsistent  with  the  permanent  existence 
of  slavery,  and,  if  triumphant,  insure  its  downfall,  the 
Apostles  pursued  that  which  was  their  great  object; 
and  for  those  of  an  inferior  order,  patiently  waited  for 
the  time  when  the  seed  they  had  sown  broadcast  in 
the  earth  should  yield  its  harvest. 

And  surely  the  event  has  justified  their  sagacity. 
For  to  what,  after  all,  have  just  notions  on  this  most 
important  subject  been  owing,  except  to  this  said 
Christianity?  Though  it  is  true  that,  owing  to  the 
imperfect  exemplification  of  its  principles  by  men  who 


420  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

profess  it,  it  has  not  yet  done  its  work,  it  is  doing  it ; 
though  some  Christian  nations  —  more  shame  for  them 

—  have  slaves,  none  but  Christian  nations  are  without 
them.  Not  only  is  the  sincere  admission  of  the  max- 
ims and  principles  of  the  New  Testament  inconsistent 
with  the  permanent  existence  of  slavery,  but  the  history 
of  Christianity  affords  perpetual  illustrations  of  its  ten- 
dency to  destroy  it.  Even  during  the  Dark  Ages,  even 
in  its  most  corrupted  form,  Christianity  wrought  for 
the  practical  extinction  of  serfdom.  Mr.  Newman  says 
that  it  was  Christians^  not  men^  that  the  Church  sought 
to  enfranchise ;  it  little  matters ;  she  sought  to  abolish 
all  villanage.  He  says  that  even  Mahometans  do  not 
like  to  enslave  Mahometans  ;  I  ask,  can  he  find  immense 
bodies  of  Mahometans  who  contend  that  it  is  contrary  to 
the  spirit,  tendencies,  and  maxims,  if  not  precise  letter, 
of  their  religion,  to  enslave  any  body  ?  For  it  was  such 
a  principle  which  expressly  called  forth  the  abhorrence 
and  condemnation  of  slavery  in  our  own  age  and  na- 
tion. It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  movement  by  which 
this  accursed  system  was,  after  so  long  a  struggle,  ex- 
terminated amongst  us,  was  an  eminently  religious 
one,  as  regards  its  main  supporters,  the  grounds  they 
took,  and  the  sacrifices  they  made. 

"  Bat  Christian  nations  have  defended  and  practised 
slavery ! "  you  will  say. 

They  have ;  and  Christian  nations  have  often  prac- 
tised the  vices  which  the  "  Book  "  expressly  condemns, 

—  just  as  all  nations  have  practised  many  things  which 
their  codes  of  morals  or  laws  condemn.  The  question 
is  whether  in  the  one  case  the  Book^  or  in  the  other 
case  the  codes^  approve  them~;~nol,  T  presume,  whether 
man  is  a  very  inconsistent  animal.  But  no  system  is 
made  answerable  for  the  violations  of  its  spirit  —  except 
Christianity. 


DISCUSSION    OF    THREE    QUESTIONS.  421 

Mr.  Newman  says  that  slaveholders  i  lake  the  "  New 
Testament  the  stronghold  of  the  accursed  system.'*  It 
liad  been  more  to  the  purpose  if  he  had  pointed  out 
a  passage  or  two  which  recommend  it.  He  knows  that 
it  is  simply  because  it  does  not  (for  reasons  already 
stated)  denounce  it,  that  they  say  it  approves  it.  Are 
you  satisfied  with  this  reasoning?  Then  try  it  on 
another  case,  —  for  despotism  is  exactly  parallel.  The 
Now  Testament  does  not  expressly  denounce  that^  and 
for  the  same  reasons ;  and  the  arguments  for  passive 
obedience  have  been  with  equal  plausibility  drawn  from 
its  pages.  Will  the  Transatlantic  republicans  approve 
despotism  on  the  same  authority? — Despotism  has 
wrought  at  least  as  much  misery  to  mankind  as  slavery, 
and  probably  much  more.  Was  it  a  duty  of  the  Apos- 
tles, instead  of  laying  down  principles  which,  though 
having  another  object,  would  infallibly  undermine  it, 
to  denounce  despotism  everywhere,  and  invito  all  peo- 
ple to  an  insurrection  against  their  rulers  ?  If  they  had, 
the  spiritual  objects  of  the  Gospel  would  have  been 
easily  understood,  and  very  properly  treated.  Let  me 
apply  the  argunientum  ad  hominem,  Mr.  Newman  has 
favored  the  world  with  his  views  of  religious  truth, 
and  the  "  spiritual  "  weapons  by  which  its  "  champion" 
is  to  make  it  victorious  over  mankind  ;  he  has  also  re- 
corded his  hatred  of  slavery  and  despotism,  where  such 
magnanimity  is  perfectly  safe,  and  perfectly  superfluous. 
Let  me  now  suppose  you,  not  only  partly,  but  wholly 
of  his  mind,  and  animated  (if  "  spiritualism  "  will  ever 
prompt  men  to  do  any  thing,  except,  as  Harrington 
says,  to  write  books  against  book-revelation),  —  let  me 
suppose  you  animated  to  go  as  missionary  to  the  East 
to  preach  this  spiritual  system  :  would  you,  in  addition 
to  all  the  rest,  publicly  denounce  the  social  and  political 
evils  under  which  the  nations  groan  ?     If  so,  yc  ur  spir- 

36 


422  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

itual  projects  would  soon  be  perfectly  understood,  and 
summarily  dealt  with. 

It  is  in  vain  to  say  that,  if  commissioned  by  Heaven, 
and  endowed  with  power  of  working  miracles,  you 
would  do  so  ;  for  you  cannot  tell  under  what  limitations 
your  commission  would  be  given ;  it  is  pretty  certain 
that  it  would  leave  you  to  work  a  moral  and  spiritual 
system  by  moral  and  spiritual  means,  and  not  allow  you 
to  turn  the  world  upside  down,  nor  mendaciously  tell  it 
that  you  came  only  to  "  preach  peace,"  while  every  syl- 
lable you  uttered  would  be  an  incentive  to  sedition. 

III.  The  last  point  on  which  you  ask  a  few  remarks 
is  in  relation  to  the  early  spread  of  Christianity.  Mr- 
Newman  makes  easy  work  of  this  great  problem.  He 
says,  "  Before  Constantine,  Christians  were  but  a  small 
fraction  of  the  empire In  fact^  it  luas  the  Chris- 
tian soldiers  in  Constantine' s  army  who  conquered  the 
empire  for  Christianity P  *  '  * 

In  the  first  place,  supposing  the  facts  just  as  stated, — 
namely,  that  it  was  the  Christian  soldiers  of  Constan- 
tine who  conquered  the  empire  for  Christianity,  —  who 
was  it  that  conquered  the  army  for  Christianity  ?  When 
I  find  Mahometan  ism  the  prevalent  religion  through  the 
English  regiments,  I  shall  shrewdly  suspect  that  the 
conquest  of  England  for  Mahometanism  will  have  been 
made  an  easy  task,  by  its  having  already  made  equal 
progress  amongst  the  people  generally  I 

I  suppoc3  it  will  not  be  denied  that  the  soldiers,  by 
whose  aid  Constantine  achieved  this  great  victory,  were 
themselves  professedly  converts  to  Christianity;  and 
Christianity  as  it  had  existed  in  the  times  of  the  recent 
persecutions  was  not  likely  to  allure  men  to  the  pro- 
fession of  arms.  I  think,  therefore,  we  may  fairly 
assume,  that,  if  the  imperial  armies  were  to  any  con- 

*  Phases,  p.  162. 


DISCUSSION    OF    THREE    QUESTIONS.  423 

siderable  extent  —  and  it  must  have  been  ex  hypothesi 
to  a  prevailing  extent  —  composed  of  Christians,  Chris- 
tianity had  made  at  least  equal  progress  in  the  ranks  of 
civil  life.  The  one  may  be  taken  as  the  measure  of  the 
other ;  though  we  might  fairly  suppose,  both  from  the 
principles  and  habits  of  the  Christians,  that  they  would 
be  found  in  civil  life  in  a  larger  ratio.  The  camp  was 
not  precisely  the  place  for  them ;  the  Gospel  might  find 
them  there,  it  rarely  sent  them.  So  that  the  question 
returns.  How  came  it  to  pass  that  the  bulk  of  the*armies 
which  "  conquered  the  empire  for  Christianity  "  came  to 
be  Christians,  — at  least  in  name  and  profession  ? 

"  Ah  I "  you  will  say,  "  in  name,  —  but  they  were 
strange  Christians  who  became  soldiers."  Very  true ; 
and  it  makes  my  argument  the  stronger.  3Iere  profes- 
sors of  a  religious  system  only  follow  in  the  wake  of  its 
triumphs.  When  those  who  do  not  care  much  for  a 
system  profess  and  embrace  it,  depend  upon  it,  it  has 
largely  triumphed.  To  suppose,  therefore,  that  Con- 
stantine  conquered  the  empire  for  Christianity,  while 
we  admit  that  the  army  was  already  Christian,  is  very 
like  getting  rid  of  the  objection  in  the  way  the  Irishman 
proposed  to  get  rid  of  some  superfluous  cart-loads  of 
earth.  "  Let  us  dig  a  hole,"  said  he,  "  and  put  it  in." 
It  is  much  the  same  here. 

Constantine  became  a  convert,  perhaps  from  cctnvic- 
tion,  but  certainly  rather  late.  Supposing  him  a  polit- 
ical  convert,  as  many  have  done,  it  could  only  be  be- 
cause he  saw  that  Christianity  had  done  its  work  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  render  it  more  probable  that  it 
would  assist  him  than  that  he  could  assist  it  This  in- 
duced him  to  take  it  under  the  wing  of  his  patronage. 
And  on  such  a  theory,  what  but  such  a  conviction 
could  have  justified  him  in  the  attempt  for  a  moment  ? 
How  could  he  be  fool  enough  to  add  to  the  difficulties 


424  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

of  his  position  — a  candidate  for  empire  —  the  stupen- 
dous difficulty  )f  forcing  upon  his  unwilling  or  indiffer- 
ent subjects  a  religion  which  by  supposition  they  were 
any  thing  but  prepared  to  receive  ?  If  the  prospects  of 
Christianity  had  not  already  decided  the  question  for 
him,  «o  far  from  receiving  credit  for  political  sagacity, 
as  he  ever  has  done,  he  would  deserve  rather  to  be  con- 
sidered an  absolute  idiot ! 

Again  ;  is  it  not  plain  from  history  in  general,  and 
must  we  not  infer  it  from  the  nature  of  the  case  a  pri- 
ori^ that  Christianity  must  in  some  fashion  have  con- 
quered its  millions  before  Constantine  or  any  other 
man  was  likely  to  attempt  to  conquer  the  empire  for 
Christianity,  or  to  succeed  in  so  doing  if  he  bad  ?  Is 
there  an  instance  on  record  of  a  people  suddenly,  at  a 
moment's  notice,  changing  its  religion,  or  rather — for 
this  is  the  true  representation  —  of  many  different  na- 
tions changing  their  many  different  religions  at  the  sim- 
ple command  of  their  sovereign,  and  he  too  an  upstart  ? 
In  two  cases,  and  in  only  two,  it  may  be  done  ;  first,  by 
an  unsparing  use  of  the  sword,  the  brief,  simple  alter- 
native of  Mahomet,  Death  or  the  Koran;  the  other, 
when  the  new  form  of  belief  has  converted  the  bulk  or 
a  large  portion  of  the  nation ;  of  which,  in  this  case, 
the  conversion  of  the  army  is  a  tolerably  significant  in- 
dication. 

But  again  ;  if  it  be  said  that  the  people,  or  rather  the 
many  different  nations,  abandoned  their  religions  out  of 
complaisance  to  their  sovereign,  I  answer.  Why  do  we 
not  see  the  same  thing  repeated  when  Julian  wished  to 
reverse  the  experiment  ?  They  were  not  so  pliant  then ; 
then  was  it  seen  very  clearly  that  the  people  were,  as  in 
every  other  case,  unwilling,  as  regards  their  religion,  to 
be  mere  puppets  in  the  hands  of  their  governors.  He 
was  animated  by  at  least  as  strong  a  hatred  of  Chris- 


DISCUSSION    OF    THREE    QUESTIONS.  425 

tianity  as  Constantine  by  a  love  of  it.  Yet  we  see  all 
the  way  through,  that  there  was  not  a  chance  of  suc- 
cess for  him. 

"  But  there  were  some  persecutions,"  you  will  say, 
"  by  Constantine."  True,  but  they  were  so  trifling 
compared  with  what  would  have  been  required  had  the 
conversion  of  an  unbelieving  and  refractory  empire  de- 
pended on  such  means,  that  few  who  read  the  history 
of  religious  revolutions  will  believe  that  they  were  the 
cause  of  the  change.  Every  thing  shows  that  a  vast 
preceding  moral  revolution  in  the  empire  is  the  only 
sufficient  explanation  of  so  sudden  an  event.  Gibbon 
himself  admits  Constantine's  tolerant  disposition. 

"  But,"  it  may  be  said,  "  the  old  heathenism  was  worn 
out  and  effete ;  no  one  thought  it  worth  his  while  to 
stand  up  in  its  defence." 

I  answer,  first,  it  seems  to  have  been  sufficiently 
loved,  or  at  least  Christianity  was  sufficiently  hated, 
to  insure  frequent  and  sanguinary  persecutions  of  the 
latter,  almost  up  to  the  eve  of  Constantine's  accession. 
Secondly,  you  are  to  consider,  that,  though  in  the  schools 
of  philosophers,  in  the  Epicurean  or  sceptical  atmos- 
phere of  the  luxurious  capital  and  other  great  cities, 
there  was  unquestionably  a  numerous  party  to  whom 
the  old  superstition  was  a  laughing-stock,  there  were 
vast  multitudes  to  whom  it  was  still,  in  its  various  forms, 
a  thing  of  power.  You  are  to  recollect  that  the  Roman 
empire  was  made  up  of  many  nations,  each  with  a  dif- 
ferent mode  of  religion,  and  to  suppose  that  these  differ- 
ent religions  had  ceased  to  exercise  the  usual  influence 
on  vast  multitudes  of  the  people  would  be  mere  delusion. 
If  they  were  surrendered  at  last  so  easily,  it  could  only 
be  because  a  great  party  —  antagonistic  to  each  —  had 
been  silently  forming  in  each  nation,  and  undermining 
the  power  of  the  popular  superstitions.     But,  thirdly,  if 

3C^ 


426  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

the  representation  were  true,  to  what  can  so  singular  a 
phenomenon  —  this  simultaneous  decay  of  different  re- 
ligions, this  epidemic  pestilence  amongst  the  gods  of 
the  Pantheon  —  be  ascribed,  but  to  the  previous  influ- 
ence of  Christianity,  and  its  extensive  conquests  ?  And, 
fourthly,  supposing  this  not  the  case,  and  yet  that  the 
indifference  in  question  existed,  this  indifference  to  the 
old  systems  of  religion  would  not  presuppose  equal  in- 
difference to  neiv^  or  induce  the  people  to  embrace  them 
at  the  mere  bidding  of  their  new  master."  If  this  Were 
so,  we  ought  to  see  the  same  phenomenon  repeated  in 
the  case  of  Julian.  If,  in  their  presumed  indifference  to 
the  old  and  the  new,  they  listened  to  Constantine  when 
he  commanded  them  to  become  Christians,  why  did 
not  they  manifest  an  equally  compliant  temper  when 
the  Apostate  enjoined  them  to  become  heathens,  and, 
like  Constantine,  gave  them  both  precept  and  example  ? 

But  look  at  the  historic  evidence  on  the  subject  long 
before  the  establishment  of  Christianity.  Is  it  possible 
for  any  candid  person  to  read  the  Epistle  of  Pliny  to 
Trajan,  and  not  see  in  that  alone,  after  making  every 
deduction  for  any  supposed  bias  under  which  the  let- 
ter may  have  been  written  (though,  in  fact,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  suppose  any  bias  that  would  not  rather  lead  the 
writer  to  diminish  the  number  of  the  Christians  than 
to  exaggerate  it), —  is  it  possible,  I  say,  to  read  that 
singular  state  paper,  and  not  feel  that  the  new  religion 
had  made  prodigious  progress  in  that  remote  province  ? 
and  that,  a  fortiori,  if  in  Bithynia  it  had  conquered  its 
thousands  of  proselytes,  in  other  and  more  favored  prov- 
inces it  must  have  gained  its  tens  of  thousands  ?  To 
me  the  letter  of  Pliny  speaks  volumes  ;  and  if  so  much 
could  be  said  at  so  early  a  period  as  A.  D.  107,  what 
was  the  state  of  things  two  centuries  later  ? 

Precisely  the  same  conclusion  must  be  arrived  at  if 


DISCUSSION    OF    THREE    QUESTIONS.  427 

we  consult  the  uniform  tone  of  the  Christian  apologists, 
from  Justin  Martyr  to  Minucius  Felix.  Making  here, 
again,  what  deductions  you  please  for  the  fervid  elo- 
quence and  rhetorical  exaggerations  of  such  a  man  as 
Tertullian,  it  is  too  much  to  suppose  even  his  "African" 
impetuosity  would  have  ventured,  not  merely  on  the 
virulent  invective,  the  bold  taunts,  with  which  he  every- 
where assails  the  popular  superstitions,  but  on  such 
strong  assertions  of  the  triumphant  progress  of  the  up- 
start religion,  unless  there  had  been  obvious  approxi- 
cnation  to  truth  in  his  statements.  ^^  We  were  but  of 
yesterday,"  says  he,  "  and  we  have  filled  your  cities, 
islands,  towns,  and  assemblies ;  the  camp,  the  senate, 
the  palace,  and  the  forum  swarm  with  converts  to  Chris- 
tianity." Apologist  for  Christianity!  Unless  these 
words  had  been  enforced  by  very  much  of  truth,  he 
would  have  made  Christianity  simply  ridiculous ;  and 
Christians  would  have  been  necessitated  to  apologize 
for  their  mad  apologist. 

The  same  conclusion  equally  follows  from  the  con- 
sideration of  those  very  corruptions  of  Christianity, 
which  no  candid  student  of  ecclesiastical  history  will 
be  slow  to  admit  had  already  infected  it,  many  years 
before  Constantine  ventured  to  aid  it  by  his  equivocal 
patronage.  It  was  obviously  its  triumphant  progress,  — 
its  attraction  to  itself  of  much  wealth,  —  the  accession, 
to  a  considerable  extent,  of  fashion,  rank,  and  power,  — 
that  chiefly  caused  those  corruptions.  So  long  as  thei 
Christian  Church  was  poor  and  despised,  such  scenes 
as  often  attended  the  election  of  bishops  in  the  great 
cities  of  the  empire  would  be  quite  impossible. 

Under  such  circumstances  the  argument  of  Mr.  New- 
man—  judiciously  compressed  into  a  few  sentences  — 
appears  to  me  even  ludicrous.  How  different  the  course 
which  Gibbon  pursues !     Whut  a  pity  that  the  great 


428  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

historian  did  not  perceive  that  this  statement  would 
have  led  him  equally  well  to  his  desired  end ;  that  so 
brief  a  demonstration  would  suffice  to  account  for  that 
unmanageable  phenomenon,  the  rapid  progress  and  ul- 
timate triumph  of  Christianity !  He,  on  the  contrary, 
seems  to  have  read  history  with  very  different  eyes ; 
and  yet  I  suppose  no  man  will  question  either  his 
learning  or  his  sagacity.  He  finds  himself  obliged  to 
admit  the  conspicuous  advance  which  the  Gospel  had 
made  before  Constantine's  accession,  and  employs  every 
nerve  to  invent  sufficient  natural  causes  to  account  for 
it.  What  a  facile  task  would  he  have  had  of  it,  if  he 
had  but  bethought  him  that  Christianity,  instead  of 
having  been  to  an  enormous  extent  successful,  was,  in 
fact,  waiting,  in  comparative  failure,  the  triumphant 
aid  of  a  military  conqueror!  He  might  then  have  dis- 
pensed with  the  celebrated  chapter^  and  substituted  for 
it  the  two  pregnant  sentences  by  which  Mr.  Newman 
has,  in  effect,  declared  it  superfluous. 


August  7.  Three  days  ago  (the  evening  before  my 
return  home)  I  managed  to  prevail  upon  myself  to  have 
a  close  and  formal  discussion  with  Harrington  on  the 
subject  of  his  scepticism.  We  had  a  regular  fight, 
which  lasted  till  midnight,  and  beyond.  A  good  deal 
of  it  was  (in  a  double  sense,  perhaps)  a  wKTonaxia.  As 
I  had  no  one  to  jot  down  short-hand  notes  of  our  con- 
troversy, —  perhaps  it  is  as  well  for  me  and  for  truth 
that  there  was  none,  —  it  is  impossible  that  I  should  do 
more  than  give  you  a  succinct  summary  of  its  course. 
But  its  principal  topics  are  too  indelibly  impressed 
on  my  memory  to  leave  me  in  doubt  about  general 
accuracy. 

I  hardly  know  what  led  to  it ;  I  believe,  however,  it 


THE    LAST    EVENIxMG.  429 

was  an  observation  he  made  on  the  different  fates  of 
metaphysical  and  physical  science,  —  the  last  all  prog- 
ress, and  the  first  perpetual  uncertainty.  He  had  been 
reading  a  remark  of  some  philosopher  who  attributed 
this  difference  to  the  more  substantial  incentives  offered 
to  the  cultivation  of  the  physical  sciences.  "  So  that," 
said  he,  "  they  are,  it  seems,  what  our  German  friends 
would  call  '  Brodwissenschaften  ' !  Not  the  brain,  as 
some  idly  suppose,  but  the  stomach,  is  the  true  organon 
of  discovery,  and  if  the  metaphysician  could  but  be 
punctually  assured  of  his  dinner  (which  has  not  always 
been  the  case),  or  at  all  events  of  a  fortune,  we  should 
soon  have  the  true  theories  of  the  Subhme  and  Beauti- 
ful,—  of  Ethics,  —  of  the  Infinite, —  of  the  Absolute, 
—  of  Mind  and  Matter,  —  of  Liberty  and  Necessity  ; 
whereas  I  think  we  should  only  have  a  multiplication 
of  doubtful  theories." 

He  remarked  that  he  doubted  the  truth  of  the  hy- 
pothesis in  both  its  parts ;  that  not  the  want  of  ade- 
quate motives,  but  the  intrinsic  difficulty  of  the  subjects, 
had  kept  metaphysics  back  (on  what  subjects  had  men 
expended  more  gigantic  toil  ?)  ;  nor,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  it  necessity  that  chiefly  impelled  man  to  cultivate 
physical  science  ;  it  was  the  desire  of  knowledge,  —  or 
rather,  he  added,  the  love  of  truth ;  for  what  else  was 
his  admitted  curiosity,  in  the  last  resort,  unless  man  is 
equally  curious  about  falsehood  and  truth ;  "  that  is/' 
said  he,  laughing,  "  as  curious  after  ignorance  as  after 
knowledge !  No,"  he  continued,  "  the  sciences  are 
made  arts  for  utilitarian  purposes  ;  but  the  sciences 
themselves  have  a  very  different  origin.  For  my  own 
part,  I  would  as  soon  believe  that  Sir  Isaac  Newton  ex- 
cogitated his  system  of  the  universe  in  hopes  of  being 
made  one  day  Master  of  the  Mint."  I  assented,  and, 
smiling,  told  him  I  was  glad  to  find  him  admit  that 


430  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

there  was  in  man  a  love  of  knowledge,  identical  with 
the  love  of  truth.  He  said  he  admitted  the  appetite^ 
but  denied  that  there  was  always  an  adequate  sup- 
ply of  food.  He  admitted  that  in  physical  science  man 
seemed  capable  of  unlimited  progress;  but  it  seemed 
.  doubtful  whether  this  was  the  case  in  other  directions. 
"  What  was  there  inconsistent  with  scepticism  in  that  ?  " 
he  asked. 

I  answered,  that  it  was  not  for  me  to  say  at  what 
point  of  the  scale  a  man  might  become  an  orthodox 
doubter ;  but  I  was,  at  all  events,  glad  that  he  had  not 
gone  all  the  lengths  which  some  had  gone,  or  professed 
to  have  gone  ;  who,  if  they  had  not  reached  that  climax 
of  Pyrrhonism,  to  doubt  even  if  they  doubt,  yet  had 
declared  the  attainment  of  all  truth  impossible.  I  then 
bantered  him  a  little  on  the  advantages  of  "  absolute 
scepticism  "  ;  told  him  I  wondered  that  he  should  throw 
them  away ;  and  reminded  him  of  the  success  with 
which  the  sceptic  might  train  on  his  adversary  into  the 
"  bosky  depths  "  of  German  metaphysics,  —  the  theo- 
ries of  Schelling,  Fichte,  Hegel.  "  If  truth  be  in  any 
of  those  dusky  labyrinths,"  said  I,  "  you  are  not  com- 
pelled to  find  her ;  the  more  unintelligible  the  discus- 
sion becomes,  the  better  for  the  sceptic ;  you  may  not 
only  doubt,  but  doubt  whether  you  even  understand 
your  doubts.  You  may  play  '  hide  and  seek '  there  for 
ten  thousand  years."  "  For  all  eternity,"  was  his  reply. 
But  he  said  he  had  no  wish  to  seek  any  such  covert, 
nor  to  play  the  sceptic. 

I  told  him  I  was  glad  to  find  that  his  scepticism  did 
not  —  to  use  Burke's  expression  on  another  subject  — 
''  go  down  to  the  foundations."  He  answered  that  he 
was  afraid  it  did  on  all  subjects  really  of  any  signifi- 
cance to  man.  "  As  to  the  present  life,"  he  continued, 
"  I  am  quite  willing  to  accept  Bayle's  dictum :  *  Les 


THE    LAST    EVENING.  431 

Sceptiques  ne  nioient  pas  qu'il  ne  se  fallut  conformer 
aux  coutumes  de  son  pays,  et  pratiquer  des  devoirs  de 
la  morale,  et  prendre  parti  en  ces  choses  la  sur  des  pro- 
babilites,  sans  attendre  la  certitude.'  " 

I  was  not  sorry  that  he  took  Bayle's  limits  of  scep- 
ticism rather  than  Hume's  :  I  told  him  so. 

Hume,  he  said,  was  evidently  playing  with  scepti- 
cism ;  for  himself,  he  had  no  heart  to  jest  upon  the  sub- 
ject. The  Scotch  sceptic  acknowledged  that  the  meta- 
physical riddles  of  his  "  absolute  scepticism  "  exercised, 
and  ought  to  exercise,  no  practical  influence  on  himself 
or  any  man ;  that  the  moment  he  quitted  them,  and 
entered  into  society,  "  they  appeared  to  him  so  frigid 
and  unnatural "  that  he  could  not  get  himself  to  inter- 
est himself  about  them  any  further;  that  a  dinner  with 
a  friend,  or  a  game  at  backgammon,  put  them  all  to 
flight,  and  restored  him  to  the  undoubting  belief  of  all 
the  maxims  which  his  meditative  hours  had  stripped 
him  of.  It  was  natural,  Harrington  said ;  for  such  scep- 
ticism was  impossible.  He  added,  however,  that,  had 
Hume  been  honest,  he  would  never  have  employed  his 
subtilty  in  the  one-sided  way  he  did ;  "  for,"  said  he, 
"  if  his  principles  be  true,  they  tell  just  as  much  against 
those  who  den^  any  religious  dogmas  as  against  those 
who  maintain  them.  Yet  everywhere  in  relation  to  re- 
ligion —  take  the  question  of  miracles,  for  example  — 
he  argues  not  as  a  sceptic  at  all,  but  as  a  dogmatist, 
only  on  the  negative  side.  If  his  doctrine  of  '  Ideas ' 
and  of  *  Causation '  be  true,  he  ought  to  have  main- 
tained that,  for  any  thing  we  know,  miracles  may  have 
occun-ed  a  thousand  times,  and  may  as  often  occur 
again.  Hume,"  he  said,  "  was  amusing  himself;  but  1 
am  not :  nor  can  any  one  really  feel  —  many  pretend 
to  do  so  without  feeling  at  all  —  the  pressure  of  such 
doubts  as  envelop  me,  and  be  content  to  amuse  them- 
selves with  them." 


432  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

I  found  it  very  difficult  to  attack  him  in  the  intrench- 
ments  he  had  thrown  up.  I  thought  I  would  just  try 
for  a  moment  to  act  on  the  Spiritualist's  advice,  and, 
throwing  aside  all  "  intellectual  and  logical  processes," 
all  appeals  to  the  " critical  faculties,"  advance  "lightly 
equipped  as  Priestley  himself,"  making  my  appeal  to 
the  "  spiritual  faculty."  I  cannot  say  that  the  result 
was  at  all  what  "  spiritualism  "  promises.  On  the  con- 
trary, Harrington  parried  all  such  appeals  in  a  twink- 
ling. He  said  he  did  not  admit  that  he  had  any 
"  spiritual  faculty  "  which  acted  in  isolation  from  the 
intellect;  that  religious  faith  must  be  founded  on  re- 
ligious truth,  and  even  quasi-reWgious  faith  on  quasi- 
religious  truth.  That  the  intellect  and  the  moral  and 
spiritual  faculties  (if  he  had  any)  acted  together,  since 
he  felt  that  he  was  indivisible,  and  that  the  former  must 
be  satisfied  as  well  as  the  latter ;  that  it  was  so  with  all 
his  faculties,  none  of  which  acted  in  isolation ;  that 
however  hunger  might  prompt  to  food,  he  never  took 
what  his  senses  of  sight  and  touch  told  him  was  sand 
or  gravel ;  that  if  he  indulged  love,  or  pity,  or  anger,  it 
was  only  as  the  senses  and  the  imagination  and  the 
understanding  were  busied  with  objects  adequate  to 
elicit  them  ;  that  if  beautiful  poetry  excited  emotion,  it 
was  only  as  he  understood  the  meaning  and  connection 
of  the  words.  "  And  what  else  are  you  doing  noiv,  while 
urging  me  to  realize  by  direct  *  insight,'  by  '  gazing ' 
on  '  spiritual  truth,'  and  so  forth,  the  things  you  wish 
me  to  realize,  —  I  say  what  are  you  doing  but  appeal- 
ing to  me,  through  these  same  media  of  the  senses  and 
the  imagination,  by  rhetoric  and  logic  ?  How  else  can 
you  gain  any  access  to  my  supposed  '  spiritual  fac- 
ulties '  ? "  I  replied,  that  even  the  spiritualist  did 
that, —  he  endeavored  to  convince  men,  I  supposed. 
"  Yes,"  he  replied,  laughing,  "  because  he  is  privileged 


THE    LAST    EVENING.  433 

doubly  to  abuse  logic  at  one  and  the  same  time  ;  to 
abuse  it  in  one  sense  as  a  fallacious  instrument  of 
religious  conviction  in  the  hands  of  others,  and  to 
abuse  it  in  another  sense,  as  an  instrument  of  fal- 
lacious conviction  in  his  own.  But  you  are  not  so 
privileged. " 

Harrington  insisted  on  the  fact,  that  the  whole  thing 
was  a  delusion  ;  I  might  appeal,  he  said,  if  I  thought 
proper,  to  any  faculties,  or  rudiments  of  faculties,  he 
possessed,  spiritual  or  otherwise;  but  he  really  could 
not  pretend  even  to  comprehend  one  syllable  I  said,  if  I 
denied  him  the  use  of  his  understanding.  I  might  as 
well,  and  for  the  same  reasons,  appeal  to  him  without 
the  intervention  of  his  senses^  —  for  his  "  soul "  could 
not  be  more  different  from  his  "  intellect "  than  from 
them.  "  Besides,"  he  continued,  "  I  know  you  do  not 
imagine  that  any  spiritual  faculty  acts  thus  indepen- 
dently of  the  intellect  ;  and  therefore  you  are  only 
mocking  me." 

I  thought  it  best  to  cut  my  cable  and  leave  this  un- 
safe anchorage. 

I  told  him  that,  as  he  doubted  whether  man  had  any 
distinctly  marked  religious  and  spiritual  faculties,  while 
I  affirmed  that  he  had,  —  although  he  was  quite  right 
in  supposing  that  I  did  not  believe  that  they  acted  ex- 
cept in  close  conjunction  with  the  intellect,  —  it  made 
it  difficult  to  hold  any  discourse  with  him.  Doubting 
the  Bible,  he  had  also  learned  to  doubt  that  doctrine  of 
human  depravity,  w^hich  he  once  thought  harmonized 
—  and  I  still  thought  did  alone  harmonize  —  the  great 
facts  of  man's  essentially  religious  constitution  and  his 
eternally  varied  and  most  egregiously  corrupt  religious 
development. 

However,  I  told  him  that,  even  in  the  concession  of 
the  probable  as  a  sufficient  rule  of  conduct  in  this  life, 

37 


434  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

he  had  granted  enough  to  condemn  utterly  his  sceptical 
position. 

He  now  looked  sincerely  interested.  "  Let  me,"  said 
I,  "  ask  you  a  few  questions."  He  glanced  towards  me 
an  arch  look.  "What !  "  he  said,  "  you  wish  to  get  the 
Socratic  weather-gage  of  me,  do  you?  You  forget, 
my  dear  uncle,  that  you  introduced  me  to  the  Platonic 
dialectics." 

"  Heaven  forgive  you,"  said  I,  "  for  the  thought 
You  know  I  make  little  pretension  to  your  favorite 
erotetic  method :  and  if  I  did,  oh  !  do  you  not  know, 
Harrington,  my  son,  that,  if  I  could  but  convince  you 
on  this  one  subject,  I  would  consent  to  be  confuted  by 
you  on  every  other  every  day  in  the  year?  —  nay,  to 
be  trampled  under  your  feet  ?  "  I  added,  with  a  falter- 
ing voice.  "  And,  besides  that,  do  you  not  know  that 
there  can  be  no  rivalry  between  father  and  son  ;  that 
it  is  the  only  human  affection  which  forbids  it ;  that 
pride,  and  not  envy,  swells  a  father's  heart,  when  he 
finds  himself  outdone  ?  " 

He  was  not  unmoved ;  told  me  he  knew  that  I  loved 
him  well,  and  desired  me  to  ask  any  questions  I  pleased 

He  saw  how  gratified  his  affection  made  me  feel.  I 
said,  gayly,  "  Well,  then,  let  me  ask  (as  our  old  friend 
with  the  queer  face  might  have  said),  Do  you  not  grant 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  prudence  ?  " 

"  I  do,"  he  said. 

"  But  to  be  prudent  is,  I  think,  to  do  that  which  is 
most  likely  to  promote  our  happiness." 

"  That  which  seems  most  likely,  for  I  do  not  admit 
that  we  know  what  will." 

"  That  which  seems^  then,  for  it  is  of  no  consequence." 

"Of  no  consequence!  surely  there  is  a  little  differ- 
ence between  hein^  and  seeming  to  heP 

"  All  the  difference  in  the  w^rld,"  I  replied,  "  but  not 


THE    LAST    EVENING.  435 

in  relation  to  our  choice  of  conduct.  We  choose,  if 
prudent,  that  conduct  which,  on  the  whole,  deliberately 
seems  most  likely  to  promote  our  happiness,  and,  as  far 
as  that  goes,  what  seems  is." 

"  I  grant  it ;  and  that  probabilities  are  the  measure  of 
it,"  said  Harrington. 

"  You  are  of  Bayle's  opinion,  that  there  is  in  relation 
to  the  present  life  a  probable  prudent,  and  that  it  would 
be  gross  folly  to  neglect  it  ?  " 

"  Certainly." 

"  And  in  proportion  as  the  interest  was  greater,  and 
extended  over  a  longer  time,  you  would  be  content  with 
less  and  less  probabilities  to  justify  action  ?  " 

"  I  freely  grant  I  should." 

"  K  now  a  servant  came  into  the  room  to  say  that  he 

feared  your  farm-house  at  King's  O was  on  fire, 

though  you  might  think  it  but  faintly  probable,  you  . 
would  not  think  it  prudent  to  neglect  the  in  forma-  )\ 
tion  ?  " 

"  I  certainly  should  not." 

"  And  if  you  were  immortal  here  on  earth,  and  the 
neglect  of  some  probably,  or  (we  will  say)  only  possi- 
bly, true  information  in  relation  to  some  vital  interest 
might  affect  it  through  that  whole  immortality,  you 
would  consider  it  prudent  to  act  on  almost  no  prob- 
ability at  all,  on  the  very  faintest  presumption  of  the 
truth  ?  " 

"  I  must  in  honesty  agree  with  you  so  far." 

"  What  does  your  scepticism  promise  you,  if  it  be 
well  founded  ?     Much  happiness  ?  " 

"  To  me  none ;  rather  the  contrary ;  and  to  none,  I 
think,  can  it  promise  much." 

"  And  if  Christianity  be  true,  —  for  I  speak  only  oi 
that, —  I  know  there  is  not  in  your  estimate  any  other 
religion  that  comes  into  competition  with  it,  —  immor- 
tal felicity,  immortal  misery,  depends  on  it  ?  " 


436  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

"  Yes ;  it  cannot  be  denied."  '    '  ' 

"  You  admit  that  scepticism  may  be  false,  even 
though  it  has  a  thousand  to  one  in  its  favor ;  for  by 
its  very  principles  you  know  nothing,  and  can  know 
nothing,  on  the  subjects  to  which  its  doubts  extend  ?  " 

"  I  acknowledge  it." 

"  And  Christianity  may  be  true  by  the  very  same 
reasoning,  though  the  chances  be  only  as  one  to  a 
thousand  ?  " 

"  It  is  so." 

"  Then  by  your  own  confession  you  are  not  prudent, 
for  you  do  not  act  in  relation  to  Christianity  on  the 
principles  on  which  you  say  you  act  in  the  affairs  of 
the  present  life ;  where  you  acknowledge  that  the  least 
presumption  will  move  you,  when  the  interests  are  suffi- 
ciently permanent  and  great." 
r       He  told  me,  with  a  smile,  I  might  have  arrived  at 
I    the  same  conclusion  without  any  argument ;  for  he  was 
\  willing  to  acknowledge  in  general  that  he  was  not  pru- 
dent, and  in  relation  to  this  very  subject  should  always 
admit,  with  Byron,  that  the  sincere  Christian  had  an 
^^  undeniable  advantage  over  both   the  infidel  and  the 
Bceptic ;  "  since,"  he  added,  putting  the  admission  into  a 
very  concise  form,  "  their  best  is  his  worsV 

"  Very  well,"  said  I,  "  Harrington,  only  remember 
that  your  imprudence  is  none  the  less  for  your  admis- 
sion of  it." 

"  None  in  the  world,"  he  admitted  ;  but  he  contended 
there  was  a  flaw  in  the  argument ;  for  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  accept  any  religion  on  merely  prudential 
grounds.  And  he  then  went  on,  in  his  curious  way, 
to  lament  that  an  unreasonable  candor  prevented  him 
fr^m  here  taking  advantage  of  an  ingenious  argument 
adopted  by  some  of  the  modern  "  spiritualists  "  in  rea- 
soning on  the  probabilities  of  a  "future  life."     They 


THE    LAST    EVENING.  437 

contend  that  it  is  necessary  to  insulate  the  soul  (if  it 
would  discover  "  spiritual  truth  ")  from  all  bias  of  self- 
interest, —  from  all  oblique  glances  at  prospective  ad- 
vantage ;  in  fact,  that  only  he  is  fully  equipped  for  dis- 
covering "  spiritual  truth  "  who  is  disinterestedly  indif- 
ferent as  to  whether  it  be  discovered  or  not.  Harring- 
ton said  he  could  not  pretend  that  even  the  sceptic  was 
so  favorably  circumstanced  as  that.  "  For  my  part," 
he  said,  "  I  cannot  honestly  adopt  this  view,  and  always 
think  it  prudent  to  accept  as  large  an  armful  of  happi- 
ness as  I  can  grasp,  when  truth  and  duty  do  not  come 
in  the  way." 

"  And  in  the  name  of  common  sense,"  I  said,  "  what 
truth  and  duty  are  to  stand  in  your  way  ?  Is  not  your 
truth,  that  there  is  none  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  he  replied,  smiling ;  "  but  is  not  the  truth  the 
truth,  as  FalstafF  said  ?  though  to  be  sure  it  was  when 
he  was  manufacturing  his  eleven  men  in  buckram  out 
of  two.  However,  as  Mr.  Newman,  when  some  one 
foretold  that  he  would  be  some  day  a  Socinian  or  an 
infidel,  replied,  '  Well,  if  Socinianism  or  any  thing'  else 
be  the  truth,  Socinians  or  any  thing  else  let  us  be ' ;  so 
I  must  say,  if  no  truth  be  the  truth,  no-truth  men  let 
us  be." 

"  Very  well,"  I  replied.  "  Then,  it  seems,  truth  stands 
in  the  way  of  acting  prudently ;  and,  instead  of  remedy- 
ing our  first  paradox,  we  have  started  on  another,  that 
truth  and  prudence  are  here  opposed :  for  in  no  other 
cases  (I  think)  in  which  you  apply  your  own  rule  of 
the  probable  to  the  present  life  will  a  mind  of  your  com- 
prehensiveness say  they  are  opposed;  I  am  sure  you 
will  admit  the  general  maxims,  that  to  lie  is  inexpe- 
dient, and  that  honesty  is  the  best  policy,  and  so  on." 
He  granted  it. 

"But  further,"   said  I,  "what  sort  of  truth  is  this, 

37  • 


438  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

which  involves  duty,  and  yet  is  opposed  to  prudence  ? 
It  is,  that  there  is  no  truths  it  seems,  and  this  completes 
the  paradox.  This  strange  truth  —  the  Alpha  and 
Omega  of  the  sceptic,  his  first  and  his  last  —  is  to  in- 
volve duty ;  he  is  to  be  a  confessor  and  martyr  for  it ! 
Nothing  less  than  happiness  and  prudence  are  to  be 
sacrificed  to  conscience  in  the  matter.  Truly,  if  the 
truth  that  there  is  no  truth  involves  any  duty,  it  ought 
to  be  the  duty  of  believing  that  there  is  no  duty  to  be 
performed;  and  you  might  as  well  call  yourself  a  no- 
duty  man  as  a  no-truth  manP 

He  smiled,  but  replied,  that,  seriously,  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  adopt  any  religious  opinions,  or  to  change  them, 
at  the  bidding  of  the  will. 

I  admitted,  of  course,  that  the  will  had  no  direct 
power  in  the  matter;  but  reminded  him  that,  if  he 
meant  it  had  no  influence,  or  even  a  little,  on  the  forma- 
tion or  retention  of  opinions,  no  one  could  be  a  more 
strenuous  assertor  of  the  contrary  than  he  had  often 
been.  I  reminded  him  it  was  so  notorious  that  man 
^^  usually  managed  to  believe  as  he  wished^  that  there  ^ 
was  no  one  maxim  more  frequently  on  the  lips  of  the 
greatest  philosophers,  orators,  and  poets.  But  I  added 
that  there  is  also  a  legitimate  way  of  influencing  the 
will,  and  that  is  through  the  understanding ;  and  that  it 
was  with  the  hope  of  inducing  him  to  reconsider  the 
paradoxes  of  scepticism,  and  not  with  any  expectation 
of  instant  or  violent  change,  that  I  was  anxious  to  enu- 
merate them  on  the  present  occasion. 

It  is  impossible  for  me  to  recollect  exactly  the  course 
of  the  long  conversation  that  ensued ;  suffice  it  to  say, 
that  he  willingly  granted  many  other  paradoxes,  some 
of  them  so  readily,  as  to  confirm  the  suspicion  I  had 
sometimes  felt,  that  he  must  often  have  doubted  the 
validity  of  his  doubts.     He  admitted,  for  example,  that 


THE    LAST    EVENING.  439 

since  men  in  general  (whether  from  the  possession  of  a 
distinct  religious  faculty,  though  it  might  be  corrupt 
and  depraved,  or  a  mere  rudimentary  tendency  to  relig- 
ion) had  adopted  some  religion,  religious  scepticism,  in 
an  intelligible  sense,  was  opposed  to  nature;  —  that  it 
was  equally  opposed  to  nature,  inasmuch  as  the  general 
constitution  of  man  sought  and  loved  certainty/,  or  sup- 
posed certainty,  and  found  a  state  of  perpetual  doubt 
intolerable  ;  and  that  if  this  be  attributed  to  a  tendency 
to  dogmatism,  that  is  the  very  tendency  of  nature  which 
is  affirmed;  —  that  it  is  opposed  to  nature  again  in  this 
way,  that  whereas  restlessness  and  agitation  of  mind 
are  usually,  at  all  events,  warnings  to  seek  relief,  scepti- 
cism produces  these  as  its  pure  and  proper  result ;  — 
that  since,  by  the  confession  of  every  mind  worthy  of 
respect,  the  great  doctrines  of  religion,  if  not  true,  are 
such  that  we  cannot  but  wish  they  were ;  since,  by  his 
oivn  confession,  scepticism  has  nothing  to  allure  in  it, 
and  rather  causes  misery  than  happiness ;  and  since,  by 
his  confession  and  that  of  every  one  else,  men  in  gen- 
eral easily  believe  as  they  wish,  it  is  an  unaccountable 
paradox,  that  any  one  should  remain  a  sceptic  for  a  day, 
except,  indeed,  from  a  guilty  fear  of  the  truth  ;  —  that, 
since  scepticism  tends  to  misery,  it  is  better  not  to  know 
its  truth,  and  that  therefore  ignorance  is  better  than 
knowledge  ;  —  that,  if  Christianity  be  an  illusion,  it,  at 
all  events,  tends  to  make  men  happier  than  the  truth  of 
scepticism,  and  that  therefore  error  is  better  than  truth  ; 
—  that  religious  scepticism  is  open  to  the  same  objec- 
tion as  scepticism  absolute ;  for  whereas  the  last  is 
taunted  with  trusting  to  reason  to  prove  that  reason  can 
in  nothing  be  trusted,  religious  scepticism  is  chargeable 
with  declaring  the  certainty  of  all  uncertainty,  and,  while 
proclaiming  that  there  is  nothing  true,  avowing  that 
that  is  the  truth    and  lastly,  that  if,  in  consistency,  it 


440  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

leaves  even  that  uncertainty  uncertain,  it  arrives  at  a 
conclusion  which  everlastingly  remits  us  to  renewed 
investigation ! 

"  But,"  said  he,  "  the  sceptic  does  affirm  the  certainty 
of  all  uncertainty.  That  is  precisely  my  state  of  mind, 
even  in  relation  to  Christianity.  Both  its  truth  and 
falsehood  are  —  uncertain." 

"  Then,"  said  I,  "  I  must  not  say  you  reject  Chris- 
tianity, but  only  that  you  do  not  receive  it." 

"  Precisely  so,"  said  he,  with  a  smile  and  a  blush  at 
the  same  time.  I  was  much  amused  with  this  logical 
ceremoniousness,  by  which  a  man  is  not  to  say  that  he 
rejects  any  thing  so  conditioned,  but  only  that  he  does 
not  receive  it.  I  told  him  I  imagined  they  came  to 
much  the  same  thing. 

"  It  is  impossible,"  said  he,  after  a  pause,  "  to  affirm 
any  thing  on  these  subjects." 

"  It  is  equally  impossible,"  said  I,  "  to  affirm  nothing ; 
on  the  contrary,  you  sceptics  have  two  conclusions, 
though  in  a  negative  form,  for  every  body  else's  one,  — 
together  with  the  pleasant  addition,  that  they  are  con- 
traries to  one  another;  and  as  Pascal  said  that  the 
man  who  attempted  to  be  neuter  between  the  sceptic 
and  dogmatist  was  a  sceptic  par  excellence.^  so  the  gen- 
uine sceptic  may  be  called  a  dogmatist  par  excellence.^^ 

"  For  my  part,"  said  he,  smiling  sadly,  "  I  hardly 
think  it  is  very  difficult  either  to  believe  nothing  or 
every  thing.  Fellowes,  you  see,  has  believed  every 
thing,  and  now  he  is  in  a  fair  way  to  believe  nothing. 
However,  all  I  mean  is,  that  the  evidence  on  these 
subjects  reduces  one  to  a  state  of  complete  mental  sus- 
pense, in  which  it  is  equally  unreasonable  to  say  that 
we  believe,  as  to  say  that  we  believe  not.  However, 
I  grant  you  most  of  the  paradoxes  you  mention ;  but  a 
sceptic  is  not  to  be  startled  by  paradoxes,  I  trow ;  and 
alas  I  they  prove  nothing." 


THE    LAST    EVENING. 


441 


"Prove  notliing!  nay,  I  think  you  do  your  system 
injustice  ;  I  think  it  is  entitled  to  the  distinction  of 
making  great  discoveries.  You  confess  that  the  only 
truth  on  these  subjects  is,  that  there  is  no  truth ;  that 
to  act  on  this  truth  necessitates  a  conduct  opposed  to 
nature,  to  prudence,  to  happiness ;  that  it  is  a  knowl- 
edge worse  than  ignorance ;  that  it  is  a  truth  that  is 
worse  than  error ;  that  it  never  did,  will,  or  can  be  em- 
braced by  many,  and  that  it  makes  the  few  who  em- 
brace it  miserable ;  you  admit  further,  with  me,  that 
men  generally  believe  as  they  wish.  Why,  then,  do  you 
not  fly  from  so  hideous  a  monster,  on  the  very  ground 
(only  in  this  case  it  is  stronger)  on  which  you  doubt 
all  religious  systems,  —  that  is,  on  account  of  the  sup- 
posed paradoxes  they  involve  ?  It  may  be  but  a  little 
argument  with  you,  who  seem  to  demand  demonstra- 
tion of  religious  truth  ;  but  for  myself,  I  feel  that,  what- 
ever be  the  truth,  such  a  chimera  as  scepticism,  bris- 
tling all  over  with  paradoxes,  must  be  —  a  lie." 

"  Well,"  he  replied,  "  but  then  which  religion  is  the 
true?" 

"  Nay,"  I  said,  "  that  is  an  after  consideration ;  if 
you  can  but  be  brought  to  believe  that  any  is  true,  I 
know  you  will  believe  but  oneP 

"  You  touched  just  now,"  he  replied,  "  on  the  very 
difficulty.  I  shall  believe  as  soon  as  any  one  gives  me 
what  you  truly  say  I  ask,  —  demonstration  of  the  truth 
of  some  one  of  the  thousand  and  one  religious  systems 
which  men  have  believed." 

"  And  tha'^  demonstration,"  said  I,  "  you  cannot  have ; 
for  God  has  not  granted  demonstration  to  man  on  that 
or  any  other  subject  in  which  duty  is  involved." 

"  But  why  might  I  not  have  had  it  ?  and  should  1 
not  have  had  it,  if  it  bad  been  incumbent  on  me  to  be- 
lieve it  ?  " 


442  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

We  had  now  come  to  the  very  knot  of  the  whole 
argument. 

"  Incumbent  on  you  to  believe  !  I  suppose  you  mean, 
if  there  had  been  any  system  which  you  could  not  but 
believe ;  which  you  must  believe  whether  you  would  or 
not.  No  doubt,  in  that  case,  the  requisite  evidence 
would  have  been  such  that  scepticism  would  have  been 
impossible ;  that  word  ^  incumbent '  implies  duty ;  and 
that  word  duty  is  the  key  to  the  whole  mystery,  for  it 
implies  the  possibility  of  resisting  its  claims.  We  do 
not  speak  of  its  being  incu7nhent  on  a  man  to  run  out 
of  a  burning  house,  or  to  swim,  if  he  can,  when  thrown 
into  deep  water.  He  cannot  help  it.  If  there  be  a 
Supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe,  and  if  the  posture  of 
his  intelligent  creatures  be  that  of  submissive  obedience 
to  him,  it  is  inconceivable  that  a  man  can  ever  have 
experience  of  his  being  willing  to  perform  that  duty 
with  the  sort  of  demonstration  which  you  demand ;  and, 
for  aught  we  know,  it  may  be  impossible,  constituted 
as  we  are,  that  we  should  ever  be  actually  trained  to 
that  duty,  except  in  the  midst  of  very  much  less  than 
certainty.  Now,  if  this  be  so,  —  and  I  defy  you  or  any 
man  to  prove  that  it  may  not  be  so,  —  then  we  are  ask- 
ing a  simple  impossibility  when  we  ask  that  we  may 
be  freed  from  these  conditions ;  for  it  is  asking  that  we 
may  perform  our  duty,  under  circumstances  which  shall 
render  all  duty  impossible."  I  pursued  this  subject  at 
some  length,  and  reminded  him  that  the  supposed  law 
of  our  religious  condition  was  throughout  in  analogy 
with  that  of  the  entire  condition  of  our  present  life, 
and  in  conformity  with  his  own  rule  of  the  probable ; 
that  it  is  probable  evidence  only  that  is  given  to  man 
in  either  case,  and  "  probable  evidence,"  as  Bishop  But- 
ler says,  "  often  of  even  wretchedly  insufficient  charac- 
ter."    Nature,  or  rather  God  himself,  everywhere  cries 


THE    LAST    EVENING.  443 

aloud  to  us,  "  O  mortals !  certainty,  demonstration, 
infallibility,  are  not  for  you,  and  shall  not  be  given  to 
you ;  for  there  must  be  a  sphere  for  faith,  hope,  sin- 
cerity, diligence,  patience."  And  as  if  to  prove  to  us, 
not  only  that  this  evidence  is  what  we  must  trust  to, 
but  that  we  safely  may.  He  impels  us  by  strong  ne- 
cessities of  our  lower  nature  operating  on  the  higher 
(which  would  otherwise,  perhaps,  plead  for  the  sceptic's 
inaction  in  relation  to  this  as  well  as  to  another  world) 
to  play  our  part;  if  we- stand  shivering  on  the  brink  of 
action,  necessity  plunges  us  headlong  in ;  if  we  fear  to 
hoist  the  sail,  the  strength  of  the  current  of  life  snaps 
our  moorings,  and  compels  us  to  drive.  I  reminded 
him,  that  the  generaL  result  also  shows  that,  as  man 
musi^  so  he  may^  can,  will,  shall,  (and  so  through  all  the 
moods  and  tenses  of  contingency,)  do  well ;  that  faith 
in  that  same  sort  of  evidence  which  the  sceptic  rejects 
when  urged  in  behalf  of  religion,  prompts  the  farmer 
to  cast  in  his  seed,  though  he  can  command  no  blink 
of  sunshine,  nor  a  drop  of  rain ;  the  merchant  to  com- 
mit his  treasures  to  the  deep,  though  they  may  all  go 
to  the  bottom,  and  sometimes  do  ;  the  physician  to 
essay  the  cure  of  his  patient,  though  often  half  in  doubt 
whether  his  remedy  will  kill  or  save.  "  It  is,"  said  I, 
"  in  that  same  faith  that  we  build,  and  plant,  and  lay 
our  little  plans  each  day ;  sometimes  coming  to  noth- 
ing, but  generally,  and  according  to  the  fidelity  and 
manliness  with  which  we  have  conducted  ourselves, 
securing  more  than  a  return  for  the  moral  capital  em- 
barked ;  and  even  where  this  is  not  the  case,  issuing, 
when  there  have  been  the  qualities  which  would  natu- 
rally secure  success,  a  vigor  and  robustness  of  charac- 
ter, which,  like  the  rude  health  glowing  in  the  weather- 
beaten  mariner,  who  has  buffeted  with  wind  and  wave, 
are  a  more  precious  recompense  than  success  itself.  In 
these  examples  God  says  to  us  in  effect,  *  On  such 


444  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

evidence  you  must  and  shall  act,'  and  shows  us  that  we 
safely  may.  Without  promising  us  absolute  success  in 
all  our  plans,  or  absolute  truth  in  the  investigation  ot 
evidence,  he  says,  in  either  case,  '  Do  your  best ;  be 
faithful  to  the  light  you  have,  diligent  and  conscientious 
in  your  investigations  of  available  evidence,  great  or 
little,  —  act  fearlessly  on  what  appears  the  truth,  and 
ieave  the  rest  to  me.'  " 

Harrington  here  asked  the  question  I  expected:  — 
"  But  suppose  different  men  coming  (as  they  do)  on 
religious  subjects  to  different  conclusions,  after  the  dili- 
gence and  fidelity  of  which  you  speak,  what  then  ?  " 

"  Then,  if  the  fidelity  and  diligence  have  been  abso- 
luie^  —  if  all  has  been  done  which,  under  the  circum- 
stances, could  be  done,  —  I  doubt  not  they  are  blameless. 
But  I  fear  there  are  very  few  who  can  absolutely  say 
this ;  and  for  those  who  cannot  say  it  at  all,  their  guilt 
is  proportionate  to  the  demands  which  the  momentous 
nature  of  the  subject  made  on  diligence  and  fidelity." 

"  I  suppose,"  said  he,  with  some  hesitation,  "  you 
will  not  allow  that  /  have  exercised  this  impartial 
search  ;  and  yet,  supposing  that  I  have,  will  you  not 
hold  me  blameless  on  the  very  principles  now  laid 
down  ?  " 

It  was  a  painful  question  ;  but  I  was  resolved  I 
would  have  nothing  to  reproach  myself  with  ;  and  there- 
fore answered  steadily,  that  it  was  not  for  me  to  judge 
the  degree  of  blame  which  attached  to  his  present  state 
of  mind,  which  I  trusted  was  only  transient ;  that  the 
argument  from  sincerity  was  itself  only  one  of  the 
probable  things  of  which  we  had  been  speaking;  that? 
so  subtle  are  the  operations  of  the  human  mind,  so 
mysterious  the  play  of  the  passions  and  affections, 
the  reason  and  conscience,  so  intimate  the  connection 
amongst  all  our  powers  and  faculties,  that  it  is  one  of 
the  most  difficult  things  to  be  able  to  say,  with  truth, 


THE    LAST    EVENING.  445 

that  we  are  perfectly  sincere;  that  I  did  not  see  any 
difficulty  in  believing  that  there  is  many  a  man  who, 
without  hesitation  and  without  any  conscious  hypocrisy, 
would  avow  his  sincerity,  who,  upon  being  suffered  to 
look  into  his  own  mind  through  a  moral  solar  micro- 
scope, would  see  there  all  sorts  of  misshapen  monsters, 
and  turn  away  from  the  spectacle  with  disgust  and 
horror ;  that  such  a  microscope  (to  speak  in  figure)  might 
one  day  be  applied  by  that  Power'  to  whom  only  the 
human  heart  is  fully  known.  I  added,  however,  that,  if 
I  knew  more  of  his  mental  history  for  some  years  past, 
(into  which  my  affection  should  never  induce  me  im- 
pertinently to  pry.)  I  might,  perhaps,  in  some  measure, 
account  for  his  scepticism ;  that  I  could  even  conceive 
cases  of  minds  so  "encompassed  with  infirmity,"  or  so 
dependent  on  states  of  health,  as  to  render  such  a  state 
involuntary,  and  therefore  to  take  them  out  of  the 
sphere  of  our  argument.  But,  apart  from  some  such 
causes,  I  plainly  told  him  I  could  not  permit  myself  to 
believe  that  religious  scepticism  could  be  free  from  heavy 
blame,  if  only  on  the  ground  that  such  as  feel  it  do  not 
act  consistently  with  its  maxims  in  other  cases,  where 
the  evidence  is  of  the  same  dubious  nature,  or  rather  is 
much  more  dubious.  The  parallel  case  would  be,  (if  we 
could  find  it,)  of  a  man  whose  interest  urgently  required 
him  to  act  one  way  or  the  other,  and  who,  instead  of 
acting  accordingly,  sat  down  in  absolute  inaction,  on 
the  score  that  he  did  not  know  what  course  to  pursue. 
That  indecision  would  be  always  blamable.  "  Ah !  " 
said  I,  "  those  cool  heads  and  skilful  hands  which  pilot 
the  little  bark  of  their  worldly  fortunes  amidst  such  dan- 
gerous rocks  and  breakers,  under  such  dark  and  stormy 
skies,  what  can  they  say,  if  asked  why  they  gave  up  all 
thought  of  religion  on  the  score  of  doubt,  when  its 
hopes  are  at  least  as  high  as  those  of  the  schemes  of 

38 


446  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

earthly  success,  and  its  claims  at  least  as  strong  as  those 
of  present  duty  ?     What  will  they  be  able  to  say  ? 

"  O  Harrington  I  "  I  continued,  in  some  such  words 
as  these,  "  supposing  the  draught  of  our  present  condi- 
tion not  to  be  such  as  I  have  sketched ;  that  the  scep- 
tical view  of  the  gloom  in  which  we  are  placed  is  the 
true  one,  and  that  the  Christian's  is  false ;  which,  nev- 
ertheless, is  likely  to  be  not  merely  the  happier,  but  the 
nobler  being,  —  he  who  sits  down  in  querulous  repin- 
ing or  slothful  inactivity,  as  the  result  of  doubt,  or 
he  who,  buoyant  with  faith  and  hope,  encounters  the 
gloom,  and,  while  longing  for  the  dawn,  is  confident 
that  it  will  come  ?  But  if  that  sketch  be  a  true  one,  — 
if  the  trial  of  which  I  have  spoken  be  necessary  for  you 
and  for  all,  to  develop  and  discipline  those  qualities 
vvhich  alone  will  elicit  and  mature  an  Immortal  Virtue, 
and  secure  to  us  at  last  the  privilege  of  indefectible 
'children  of  God,' — then  with  what  feelings  will  you 
hear  the  Great  Master  say,  '  In  every  other  case  but 
this,  you  acted  on  the  principles  and  maxims  by  which 
I  taught  you  (not  obscurely)  that  I  summoned  you  to 
act  in  this  case  also  :  doubts  and  difficulties  were  ne- 
cessary to  you  as  to  all,  and  I  exacted  of  you  no  more 
than  were  necessary  ultimately  to  secure  for  you  an 
eternal  exemption  from  them.  But  because  you  could 
not  have  that  certainty  which  the  very  necessity  of 
the  case  excluded,  you  declined  the  trial,  and  have  ac- 
counted yourself  unworthy  of  eternal  life  ! '  Ah  !  how 
different  if  you  could  hear  him  say,  '  It  was  indeed  a 
temptation  ;  amidst  numberless  blessings  denied  to  oth- 
ers, I  yet  gave  you,  too,  your  trial ;  —  the  questionable 
talent  of  an  inquisitive  intellect,  and  leisure  to  use  or 
abuse  it.  Tempted  to  absolute  doubt,  you  would  not 
succumb  to  it ;  you  would  not  be  so  inconsistent  here 
as  to  relinquish  those  maxims  on  which  I  compelled 
you  to  act  in  every  other  case  in  life,  nor  deny  to  me 


THE    LAST    EVENING.  447 

the  confidence  which  you  granted  to  every  common 
friend !  Warned  by  the  very  misery  which  was  sent 
to  caution  you  that  in  that  direction  lay  death,  you 
struggled  against  the  incursions  of  your  subtle  foes,  and 
you  overcame.  Welcome,  child  of  clay !  welcome  to 
that  world  in  which  there  is  no  more  night  ! '  " 

We  had  been  talking  on  till  long  past  midnight ; 
and  the  lamp  suddenly  warned  us  that  its  light  was 
just  expiring.  Harrington  took  off  the  shade,  and  was 
about  to  light  a  candle  by  the  dying  flame,  when  it 
went  out.  "  It  matters  not,"  he  said,  "  I  have  the  means 
of  kindling  a  light  close  at  hand."  "Let  it  alone,"  said 
I,  rising,  and  gently  laying  my  hand  on  his  arm,  and 
speaking  in  a  low  voice,  but  with  much  earnestness  ; 
**  this  darkness  is  an  emblem  of  our  present  life.  You 
cannot  see  me,  but  you  hear  my  voice  and  feel  the 
touch  of  my  hand.  For  any  thing  you  know,  I  may  be 
seized  with  a  sudden  fit  of  insanity.  I  may  be  about 
to  stab  you  in  this  darkness ;  such  things  have  been. 
You  have  lost,  with  the  light,  more  than  half  the  indi- 
cations of  affection  which  that  would  disclose.  But 
you  trust  to  the  probable;  your  pulse  does  not  beat 
any  the  quicker,  nor  do  your  nerves  tremble.  You  may 
have  similar,  nay,  how  much  stronger  proofs  (if  you 
will)  of  the  confidence  with  which  you  may  trust  God, 
and  Him,  the  compassionate  One,  "  whom  he  hath 
sent,"  in  spite  of  all  the  gloom  in  which  this  life  is  in- 
volved. That  certainty  for  which  you  have  just  now 
asked  will  only  be  granted  when  the  darkness  is  passed 
away ;  and  then  you  will  '  rejoice  in  the  light  of  his 
countenance.*  And,  further,"  I  continued,  "  there  is  yet 
one  thing  which  I  wish  to  say  to  you ;  and  I  feel  as  if 
I  could  say  it  better  in  this  darkness ;  for  I  will  not 
venture  to  say  that  I  should  not  manifest  more  feeling 
than  is  consistent  in  a  hard-hearted  metaphysician. 
Yes  I  it  is  on  the  side  of  feeling  that  I  would  also  ad- 


448  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

dress  you.  You  wilJ  say,  feeling  is  not  argument  ?  No  ; 
but  is  man  all  reason  ?  I  firmly  believe,  indeed,  that 
man  is  not  called  upon  to  do  any  thing  for  which  his 
reason  does  not  tell  him  that  he  has  sufficient  evidence  ; 
but  a  part  of  that  very  evidence  is  often  the  dictate  of 
feeling;  and  genuine  reason  will  listen  to  the  heart,  as 
not  always,  nor  perhaps  more  frequently  than  other- 
wise, a  suspicious  pleader.  If,  as  Pascal  says  so  truly, 
it  sometimes  has  its  reasons  which  the  reason  cannot 
^  comprehend,  it  has  also  its  reasons  which  the  reason 
thoroughly  understands. 

"  You  were  early  an  orphan  ;  you  do  not  remember 
your  mother  ;  but  I  do  ;  ah,  how  well  I  I  saw  her  the 
last  time  she  ever  saw  you.  You  were  brought  to  her 
bedside  when  she  was  in  the  full  possession  of  all  her 
faculties,  and  deeply  conscious  that  she  had  not  many 
hours  to  live.  She  looked  at  you  as  you  were  held  in 
your  nurse's  arms,  smiling  upon  her  with  to  me  an 
agonizing  unconsciousness  of  your  approaching  orphan- 
age. She  gazed  upon  you  with  that  intense  look  of 
inexpressible  affection  which  only  maternal  love,  sharp- 
ened by  death,  can  give  ;  she  looked  long  and  earnestly, 
but  spoke  not  one  syllable.  As  you  were  at  length 
taken  from  the  room,  she  followed  you  with  her  eyes 
till  the  door  closed,  and  then  it  seemed  as  if  the  light 
of  this  world    had   been    quenched  in  them  for  ever. 

*  I  charge  you,'  she  said  at  length,  *  let  me  see  him 
again.'     I  made  a  motion  as  if  to  recall  the  attendant. 

*  Not  here,^  she  added,  laying  her  hand  gently  on  my 
arm,  and  I  understood  her  but  too  well.  You  know 
whether  I  have  in  any  degree  fulfilled  my  trust.  But 
is  it  possible  that  I  can  think  of  an  utter  failure,  and 
not  be  more  than  troubled  ?  And  if  Christianity  be 
true,  and  if  I  am  so  happy  as  to  obtain  admission  to 
that '  blessed  country  into  which  an  enemy  never  en- 
tered, and  from  which  a  friend  never  went  away,'  and 


THE    LAST    EVENING.  449 

she  whom  I  loved  so  well  should  ask  me  why  you  come 
not,  —  that  she  had  tarried  for  you  long,  —  must  I 
say  that  you  will  never  come  ?  that  her  child  had  wan- 
dered from  the  fold  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  and  had 
gone  I  knew  not  whither?  that  I  sought  him  in  the 
lonely  glens  and  mountains,  but  found  him  nof  I 
hardly  know,  but  I  almost  think  —  such  was  the  love 
she  had  for  you  —  that  such  reply  would  shade  that 
radiant  face  even  amidst  the  glories  of  Paradise.  And 
now  —  let  all  this  be  a  dream  —  suppose  that  net  sim- 
ply by  your  own  fault  you  will  never  see  that  mother 
more,  but  that  from  the  sad  truth  of  your  no  truth  — 
you  never  can;  that  the  '  Vale^  vale,  in  ceternum,  vale,^  is 
all  that  you  can  say  to  her :  yet  I  say  this,  —  that  to 
Kve  only  in  the  hope  of  the  possibility  of  fulfilling  the 
better  wishes  of  such  a  friend,  and  rejoining  her  for  ever 
in  (if  you  will)  the  fabulous  *  islands  of  the  blest,' 
would  not  only  make  you  a  happier,  but  even  a  nobler, 
being  than  your  present  mood  can  ever  make  you. 
My  FABULOUS  is  better  than  your  true." 

I  felt  that  he  was  not  unmoved.  I  was  myself  moved 
too  much  to  allow  me  to  stay  any  longer,  and  saying 
that  I  could  find  my  way  very  well  to  my  chamber  in 
the  dark,  where  I  had  the  means  of  kindling  a  light,  I 
softly  closed  the  door  and  left  him. 

*  *  *  *  * 

As  I  was  to  leave  very  early  in  the  morning,  I  had 
told  Harrington  that  I  should  depart  for  the  neighbor- 
ing town  (whither  his  servant  was  to  drive  me)  with- 
out disturbing  him.  But  I  could  not  tear  myself  away, 
after  the  singular  close  of  our  interview  on  the  last  even- 
ing, without  a  more  express  farewell.  I  tapped  at  his 
chamber  door,  but,  receiving  no  reply,  gently  entered. 
He  was  resting  in  unquiet  slumber.  A  table,  lamp,  and 
books,  by  his  bedside,  bore  witness  to  his  perseverance  in 


450  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

that  pernicious  habit  which  he  had  early  formed !  I  gen- 
tly drew  back  one  of  the  curtains,  and  let  in  the  light  of 
the  summer  morning  on  his  pallid,  but  most  speaking 
features,  and  gazed  on  them  with  a  sad  and  foreboding 
feeling.  I  recalled  those  days  when  I  used  nightly  to 
visit  the  slumbers  of  the  little  orphan,  and  trace  in  his 
features  the  image  of  his  mother.  He  was  not  aroused 
by  my  entrance ;  most  likely  he  had  sunk  to  slumber 
at  a  late  hour.  Presently  he  began  to  talk  in  his  sleep, 
which  was  almost  a  constant  habit  in  his  younger  days, 
and  which  I  used  to  consider  one  of  the  symptoms  of 
that  intense  cerebral  activity  by  which  he  was  distin- 
guished. On  the  present  occasion  I  thought  I  could 
interpret  the  fitful  and  fleeting  images  which  were 
chasing  each  other  by  the  laws  of  association  through 
his  mind.  "  But  how  shall  I  know  that  these  things, 
which  I  call  real,  are  different  from  the  phenomena  of 
sleep  which  I  call  real  ?  "  Alas !  thought  I,  the  ruling 
passion  is  strong  in  sleep,  as  in  w^aking  moments !  How 
I  dread  lest  it  should  be  strong  "  in  death  "  itself,  of 
which  this  sleep  is  the  image !  After  a  pause,  an  ex- 
pression of  deepest  sadness  crept  over  the  features,  and 
he  murmured,  with  a  slight  alteration,  two  lines  from 
Coleridge's  translation  of  that  glorious  scene  in  which 
Wallenstein  looks  forth  into  the  windy  night  in  search 
of  his  "  star,"  and  thinks  of  that  brighter  light  of  his 
life  which  had  been  just  extinguished.  Harrington 
used  to  say,  that  he  preferred  the  translation  of  that 
scene  even  to  the  magnificent  original  itself  These 
lines,  (now  a  little  varied,)  I  had  often  heard  him  quote 
with  delight:  — 

"  Methinks 
If  I  but  saw  her,  't  would  be  well  with  me ; 
She  was  the  star  of  my  nativity." 

Was  he,  by  the  magic  of  dream-land,  transported  back 


CONCLUSION.  451 

to  childhood  ?  Was  he  as  an  orphan  child  thinking  of 
his  naother,  tha  image  of  whose  dying  hours  I  had  so 
recently  called  up  before  hi  m  ?  Or  was  it  the  recollec- 
tion of  a  still  brighter  and  more  recently  extinguished 
"  star,"  which  thus  troubled  his  wandering  fancy  ?  — 
There  was  another  pause,  and  again  the  fitful  breeze  of 
association  awakened  the  sad  and  plaintive  melody  of 
the  jEolian  lyre  ;  but  I  could  not  distinguish  the  words. 
Presently  the  scene  again  changed ;  and  he  suddenly 
said,  "  Beautiful  shadow  !  if  thou  art  a  shadow,  —  thou 
hast  said,  Come  to  me  all  ye  that  are  weary,  —  and 

surely  if  ever  man  was  weary To  whom  can  I 

go "     It  was  with  intense  feeling  that  I  watched 

for  something  more;  but  to  my  disappointment,  (I  may 
almost  call  it  anguish,)  he  continued  silent.  I  could 
not  find  it  in  my  heart  to  rouse  him,  and,  softly  leaving 
the  chamber,  departed  for  home. 

«  «  *  *  * 

Octobei'  31.  The  young  Sceptic  has  since  gone 
where  doubts  are  solved  for  ever ;  but  I  am  not  with- 
out hope,  that  in  his  last  hours  he  was  able  to  finish 
the  sentence  which  his  dream  left  incomplete.  "  To 
whom  can  I  go,  but  unto  Thee  ?  Thou  only  hast 
THE  WORDS  OF  ETERNAL  LIFE."  For  mc,  I  havc  noth- 
ing more  to  live  for  here.  In  a  few  weeks  I  gladly 
go  to  join  my  brother  in  his  distant  exile;  —  and  for 
Thee,  my  Country,  "  Peace  be  within  thy  dwellings, 
and  prosperity  within  thy  palaces  !  "  And  that  it  may 
be  so,  may  that  Christianity,  which,  all  imperfectly  as 
it  has  been  exemplified,  has  yet  been  thy  Palladium 
and  thy  Glory,  be  ever  and  increasingly  dear  to  thee  I 
***** 

December  27.  I  have  resolved  that  the  fragments 
which  originally  constituted  this  journal  shall  not  be 
destroyed.  I  have  employed  the  interval  since  the  last 
date  in  adapting  and  disguising  them  for  publication. 


452  THE    ECLIPSE    OF    FAITH. 

How  far  an  embroidery  of  fiction  has  been  necessary  in 
attaining  this  object,  is  a  matter  of  no  consequence  to 
any  one ;  since  the  book  aspires  to  none  of  the  appro- 
priate attractions  of  either  a  novel  or  a  history.  No 
doubt  a  much  stronger  interest,  of  a  certain  kind,  might 
have  been  secured  by  a  free  employment  of  fictitious 
embellishment,  or  even  by  a  more  liberal  indulgence  in 
biographical  details.  But  I  have  been  content,  for  a 
special  object,  to  do  what  some  tell  us  is  to  be  done 
with  the  Bible,  —  to  separate,  from  the  mass  of  inci- 
dent which  might  have  varied  or  adorned  the  narrative, 
the  exclusively  "  Religious  Element."  If  the  discus- 
sions in  the  preceding  pages  shall  in  any  instance  con- 
vince the  youthful  reader  of  the  precarious  nature  of 
those  modern  book-revelations  which  are  somewhat  in- 
consistently given  us  in  books  which  tell  us  that  all 
book-revelations  of  religious  truth  are  superfluous  or 
even  impossible  ;  if  they  shall  convince  him  how  easily 
an  impartial  doubter  can  retort  with  interest  the  deisti- 
cal  arguments  against  Christianity,  or  how  little  merely 
insoluble  objections  can  avail  against  any  thing  ;  if  they 
shall  convince  him  that  the  differences  with  which  the 
assailants  of  the  Bible  taunt  its  advocates  are  neither 
so  numerous  nor  half  so  appalling  as  those  which  divide 
its  enemies  ;  or,  lastly,  if  they  shall, />ar  avance,  in  any 

degree  protect  those  who,  like  Harrington  D ,  are 

being  made,  or  are  in  danger  of  being  nrnde,  sceptical  as 
to  all  religious  truth,  by  the  religious  distractions  of  the 
present  day,  —  I  shall  be  well  content  to  bear  the  charge 
of  having  spoiled  a  Fiction,  or  even  of  having  mutilated 
a  Biography. 

RB. 


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